GEORGE  *  VEILS  «  ARMES 

MEMORIAL  LIBRARY   *  *  * 
STJLE5  HALL BERKELEY 


LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Accession       1.0.1.8.2.7....      Class 


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"  The  day."— Gen.  ii.  4. 

"  Six  days." — Fourth  Commandment. 


ETERNITY. 


GOD. 
THE  BEGINNING. 


ETERNITY. 


Matter. 


Motion. 


Light. 


1. 


Nebula. 

Page  132. 
The  Earth. 


3. 


5. 


A 

All  water  as  vapor. 
Page  133. 
Water  as  now. 

Land  covered.    No  vegetation. 
Page  133. 
Land  as  now.    Vegetation  completed. 

r 

| 

\                                 No  sea-  n  . 
\                                                       Page  134. 
Seasons. 

\                                             Page  135. 
\            Pish  and  Fowl  of  to-day. 

r                               Page  1:35. 

\      Land  animals  of  to-day. 
|       /\J                       Man. 

1 

Reign  of  Man. 
To-day. 

The  apex  of  each  angle  denotes  the  beginning  of  a  stage  of  progress, 
increasing  to  completion,  after  which  there  was  no  further  develop- 
ment in  that  direction.  This  ia  indicated  by  the  parallelism  of  the 
lines.  See  pp.  131-135,  also  p.  92,  p.  157,  p.  165.  The  horizontal  num- 
bered lines  denote  the  position  of  the  "  days,"  each  marking  the  close 
of  an  epoch  of  immeasurable  length.  The  work  done,  or  progress 
made  between  the  "days,"  is  described  for  each  epoch,  on  the  page 
referred  to. 

The  double  angles  indicate  a  double  development. 


"STRIKE,  BUT  HEAR  ME." 


THE  MOSAIC  ACCOUNT  OF  CREATION, 

THE  MIRACLE  OF  TO-DAY; 

OB, 

NEW   WITNESSES  TO  THE 

ONENESS  OF  GENESIS  AND  SCIENCE. 


TO  WHICH  ARE  ADDED 

AN  INQUIRY  AS  TO  THE  CAUSE  AND  EPOCH  OF  THE 

PRESENT  INCLINATION  OP  THE  EARTH'S  AXIS, 

AND  AN  ESSAY  UPON  COSMOLOGY. 


"The  most  Important  thing  for  us  In  every  branch  of  knowledge,  is 
to  see  the  thing  oa  in  itself  it  really  is."— ARNOLD. 


CHARLES    B.    WARRING. 


>t 

NEW  YORK: 
J.   W.   SCHERMERHORN   &   CO., 

14  BOND  STREET. 
1875. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


THIS  book  can  be  had  of  Booksellers  generally,  or  of  tho 
Publisher  by  whom  it  will  be  sent  by  mail,  postage  paid,  on 
receipt  of  price,  $2.00. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  by 

CHARLES  B.   WARRING, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PEEFACE. 


MY  purpose  in  this  Essay  is  *to  compare  the 
statements  in  the  first  two  Chapters  of  Genesis 
with  the  scientific  discoveries  and  conclusions 
thus  far  attained.  I  have  endeavored  to  do  this 
MS  fairly  and  thoroughly  as  possible,  and  while  I 
am  well  aware  that  my  conviction  of  the  super- 
human character  of  that  Account  permeates  this 
book,  yet  I  confidently  appeal  to  the  words  of 
Moses  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  Scientists  upon 
the  other,  as  to  the  correctness  of  my  statements. 
It  is  a  true  saying  that  a  belief  is  not  necessarily 
true  because  it  is  old,  nor  false  because  it  is  new. 
Each  one  should  stand,  or  fall,  according  to  the 
character  of  the  evidence  adduced  in  its  behalf — a 
principle  for  which  the  Reader  will  find  use. 

There  is  little  Science  in  this  Essay  that  is  not 
the  common  property  of  all  who  haye  in  any 
degree  kept  up  with  the  progress  of  Physical 
research.  Indeed,  by  far  the  larger  part  is  strongly 
insisted  upon,  or  quietly  assumed  as  needing  no 
further  proof,  by  Evolutionists,  with  whom,  how- 
ever'much  it  maybe  my  lot  to  differ  on  other 


101827 


IV  PREFACE. 

subjects,  in  these  I  agree  most  fully.  I  have, 
however,  taken  scientifically  heterodox  ground  in 
reference  to  a  change  of  the  earth's  axial  position. 
For  a  full  discussion  of  this,  and  also  a  develop- 
ment of  the  Nebular  Hypothesis,  the  Reader  is 
referred  to  Part  III.  Should  it  be  shown  that 
my  argument  is  erroneous,  and  that  I  am  wrong 
in  my  views  in  reference  to  the  work  of  the 
"fourth  day,"  the  Reader  is  reminded  that  it 
is  the  explanation  only,  and  not  the  Narrative 
itself,  that  he  has  proved  false.  This  still  re- 
mains, and,  if  true,  will  surely  at  some  time  so 
appear. 

The  Geologic  Record  from  the  close  of  the 
Tertiary,  or  the  beginning  of  the  Glacial  Epoch, 
lacks  the  fulness  and  exactness  that  mark  the 
older  periods.  One  most  important  fact,  how- 
ever, has  been  established  beyond  question,  viz. 
that  the  present  "  living  "  species  of  fishes,  birds, 
reptiles,  and  mammals,  as  well  as  Man,  appeared 
after  that  date,  and  I  think  I  may  add,  after  the 
dominance  of  the  Glaciers. 

In  a  few  instances  I  have  ventured  to  change 
the  received  translation  to  one  that  seemed  nearer 
to  the  very  words  of  Moses.  Above  all  things  in 
this  discussion,  there  is  needed  perfect  thorough- 
ness that  shall  leave  no  after  questions  to  come 
up.  Any  decision  based  upon  a  version  that 
attempts  to  improve  upon  the  Hebrew,  or  which 
ignores  any  physical  fact  or  law,  germane  to  the 


PREFACE.  7 

subject,  must  be  just  so  far  defective,  and  cannot 
bear  the  test  of  examination. 

Friends  and  foes  have  united  in  rejecting  the 
claim  of  the  Mosaic  Narrative  to  be  literally  true.* 
The  former,  or  at  least  many  of  them,  style  it  a 
Hymn  of  Creation  or  an  Allegory,  and  escape  all 
scientific  difficulties  by  the  assertion  that  Moses 
taught,  not  Physics,  but  Morals.  The  rejectors 
of  this  narrative  style  it  a  Myth  or  Fable,  and 
dogmatically,  and  even  superciliously,  assume  its 
iin historical  character  to  have  been  so  well  estab- 
lished "  that  the  student  of  science  .  .  .  will  not 
trouble  himself  further  with  these  theologies,  but 
will  confine  his  attention  to  such  arguments  against 
the  view  he  holds  as  are  based  upon  purely  scien- 
tific data."  f 

I  hope  it  will  not  be  deemed  presumptuous  to 
hold  an  opinion  directly  the  opposite,  for  it  is  in 
no  spirit  of  vanity  that  I  differ  from  so  many  wise 
and  able  men,  at  whose  feet,  as  a  learner,  I  would 
gladly  sit.  In  this  independence  of  thought  I  am 
encouraged  by  the  words  of  cheer  uttered  just 
now  at  Belfast  by  one  whose  eloquence  is  sur- 
passed only  by  his  science.  Whoever  else  may 
give  harsh  and  suspicious  greeting  to  this  effort  to 

*  Even  such  a  stanch  advocate  of  its  divine  origin  as 
Prof.  Dana,  Manual,  p.  767-8,  says,  "  the  account  must  bear 
marks  of  human  imperfection."  "  In  the  style  of  a  sublime 
intellect.  .  .  .  unversed  in  the  depths  of  science  which  the 
future  was  to  reveal." 

f  Prof.  Huxley. 


VI  PREFACE. 

discover  the  true  correlation  of  Genesis  and  Sci- 
ence, I  feel  assured  of  a  patient  hearing  from  such 
men  in  the  search  after  truth,  and  that' no  preju- 
dice nor  pride  of  opinion  will  prevent  their  holding 
an  equal  balance  in  which  the  reasons  offered 
may  be  impartially  weighed. 

It  was  my  purpose  to  indicate  some  of  the 
more  important  points  in  this  discussion,  but  I 
find  it  difficult  to  make  a  selection.  Perhaps  the 
chronological  order  is  worthy  of  special  note  ;  as  is 
also  the  work  of  the  "  third  day."  The  sharply 
defined  character  of  the  latter,  and  the  equally 
clear  Geological  record  in  reference  to  the  same 
developments,  render  the  comparison  eminently 
satisfactory.  Attention  is  also  called  to  the  "  read- 
ings between  the  lines."  These,  perhaps  as  much 
as  anything  else,  throw  light  upon  the  truthful- 
ness of  the  Narrative. 

It  wrill  be  seen  that  I  have  added  another  to 
the  attempts  to  solve  the  meaning  of  the  "  days." 
The  solution  I  offer  has  the  drawback  of  novelty, 
and,  perhaps,  nothing  in  this  Essay  will  so  cross 
and  disturb  a  belief  hoary  with  antiquity.  It 
seems  to  me,  however,  impossible  to  reject  it,  so 
exactly  and  easily  does  it  meet  all  the  conditions 
of  the  problem,  the  wording  of  the  "  day  clauses," 
and  of  the  fourth  Commandment,  as  well  as  all 
the  Astronomical  and  Geological  facts.  As  to  this 
and  other  theories  advanced  in  this  Essay,  re- 
sponsibility attaches  to  myself  alone,  save  so  far 


PREFACE.  vii 

as  germs  of  thought  from  other  sources  have  been 
insensibly  wafted  into  my  mind.  In  no  case,  as 
far  as  known,  has  any  other  writer  entered  upon 
this  subject,  taking  the  very  words,  verba  ipsis- 
sima,  of  Moses  as  the  basis  of  comparison. 

The  Introductory  article  is  specially  devoted 
to  Believers  in  a  Revelation.  It  was  thus  more 
easy  to  say  certain  things  deemed  important,  but 
which  seemed  out  of  place  in  the  more  purely 
Scientific  part.  Yet  there  are  matters  in  it  of 
interest  to  others  and  of  use  in  understanding  the 
rest  of  this  book.  The  first,  second,  and  fourth 

chapters  were  originally  letters  to .  This  may 

help  explain  some  peculiarities  of  style  and  ar- 
rangement. 

I  add  a  few  words  «in  reference  to  certain 
allied  matters  not  strictly  within  the  scope  of  this 
book,  but  which,  some  may  think,  ought  to  be 
spoken  of  in  such  an  Essay  as  this. 

A  class  of  Scientists  of  distinguished  ability 
have  reached  a  conclusion  to  their  inquiries  into 
the  origin  of  things,  in  the  proposition  that  "  all 
evolution "  is  due  to  a  Power  Unknowable,  a 
proposition  which  they  appear  to  regard  as  an 
important  outstretch  of  the  human  mind.  I  can 
understand  that  one  can  positively  and  truly  assert 
that  this  Power  is  unknown  to  him,  or  that,  on 
the  authority  of  a  person  who  has  thoroughly  ex- 
amined and  comprehended  this  Power  and  the 
capacity  of  the  human  mind,  he  may  receive  as  a 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

matter  of  faith  the  assertion  that  this  First  Cause 
is  "  Unknowable,"  but  how  any  man  can  assert 
this  of  his  own  authority,  I  cannot  conceive. 
The  very  affirmation  implies  the  most  exhaustive 
knowledge,  and  thus  destroys  itself.  This,  how- 
ever, is  a  FALSE  ISSUE,  of  not  the  slightest  practi- 
cal value.  The  only  question  that  concerns  us  is, 
Can  this  Power  make  himself  known  to  us  ? 
Does  he  interest  himself  in  his  creatures  ?  Does 
he  regard  their  welfare  ?  If  so,  can  he  let  us 
know  it  ?  I  can  communicate  my  wishes  to  my 
fellows ;  even  the  brutes  have,  in  a  limited  degree, 
the  same  faculty,  lias  this  Unknown  Power  less 
ability  ?  These  are  questions  that  have  not  yet 
received,  from  those  whose  motto  is,  "  Freedom  of 
inquiry  in  all  direction*,"  that  attention  which 
their  importance  demands. 

A  possible  proof  of  a  Revelation  has  of  late 
made  much  stir  in  the  world,  and  it  may  be 
thought  that  I  have  Jiot  given  it  due  considera- 
tion. I  refer  to  the  so-called  PRAYER  TEST.  It 
is,  however,  fairly  included  in  what  is  said  in  the 
first  chapter  about  miracles.  I  may  add,  however, 
that  it  is  nothing  new,  for  the  Old  Testament 
abounds  in  Prayer  Tests.  Many  of  these  will 
occur  to  the  Bible  student.  I  shall  mention  only 
one,  selecting  that,  partly  on  account  of  its  appo- 
siteness,  and  partly  as  illustrating  the  use  of  the 
words  Jehovah  and  God.  I  refer  to  Elijah's 
prayer  for  a  direct  physical  answer  to  the  then 


PREFACE.  ix 

practical  question,  whether  Jehovah  be  God,  or 
whether  Baal  be  God.* 

A  comparison  between  Genesis  and  Science 
which  omits  all  notice  of  EVOLUTION  BY  NATURAL 
SELECTION,  will,  to  many  minds,  seem  .to  lack  an 
important  element  of  completeness.  To  such  it 
may  be  said,  that  Evolution  without  higher 
guidance  is  proved  false,  if  the  Account  in 
Genesis  is  true.  Hence,  if  this  be  established, 
such  Evolution  needs  no  other  refutation.  But 
Evolution  under  the  control  and  direction  of 
the  Great  First  Cause,  God,  is  not  incompatible 
with  the  truth  of  that  narrative.  It  may  even  be 
true  to  a  large  extent,  but,  that  it  is  infinitely 
more  under  his  control  than  the  development  of 
certain  breeds  of  cattle,  or  varieties  of  pigeons,  is 
under  the  control  of  intelligent  men,  the  truth  of 
the  Mosaic  Account  of  Creation,  if  established, 
conclusively  proves. 

*  See  1  Kings  xviii.  v.  21-39.  Note  in  v.  39  the  use  of 
these  words  implied  in  the  utterance  of  the  convinced  and 
convicted  people,  "  Jehovah,  he  is  the  God,  Jehovah,  he  is 
the  God." 


CONTENTS. 


PREFACE. 

PAOB 

Purpose  of  this  Essay iii 

Geological  Record  since  the  Tertiary iv 

Thoroughness  needed iv 

Some  of  the  more  important  points vi 

The  "  Days  " vi 

About  an  Unknowable  Power %. vii 

The  Prayer  Test viii 

Evolution,  by  Natural  Selection ix 


INTRODUCTORY. 

Religious  question  of  to-day 9 

Mosaic  Account  o$  Creation  the  key  to  the  position 10 

The  Witnesses 11 

Commentator's  Notions 14 

The  only  tenable  ground 16 

Plan  of  study 16 

The  key  to  the  mystery 17 

Plan  of  this  book 18 

Difficulties  outside 20 

Character  of  the  Narrative 21 

The  hardest  thing  to  believe 22 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

PART  I. 

CHAPTER  I. 

OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED. 

PAGE 

A  Revelation  not  intrinsically  improbable 26 

The  question  one  of  evidence 27 

Kind  of  evidence  needed 28 

A  PRESENT  MIRACLE 29 

Revelation  not  to  be  rejected  because  we  fail  fully  to 

comprehend  it 30 

The  character  of  a  revealed  Cosmogony 31 

Extraneous  matter  to  be  thrown  one  side 31 

Authority  of  little  weight 32 

Not  to  be  condemned  for  the  theories  of  others 33 

SCIENCE  JUST  COME  NEARLY  ABREAST  OF  GENESIS 34 

Its  rejection  fatal  to  Science 34 

Peculiar  Character  of  this  Account 35 

Its  obvious  purpose 35 

Fifteen  creative  acts 36 

Another  purpose,  viz.,  to  authenticate  a  revelation 36 

The  question  of  dignity  does  not  concern  us 37 

Not  a  just  objection  that  the  Narrative  is  not  clothed  in 

scientific  language 37 

The  value  of  phenomenal  statements 37 

Genesis  is  more  than  Science 40 

The  six  days *  % 40 

No  creative  act  mentioned  in  any  of  the  days 41 

"  Firmament " 42 

What  Genesis  says,  and  what  it  does  not  say 43 

"  In  conclusion  " 46 

CHAPTER   II. 

THE  UNITY   OF  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

Historical  perspective 49 

This  the  most  literal  prose 52 


CONTENTS.  Xlli 

PAGE 

"  In  the  beginning  " 53 

Tbeophobia 54 

Indications  of  a  beginning 55 

Nebular  Hypothesis 55 

Of  forces 57 

First  effects  of 59 

During  the  formative  process 60 

"  The  light,  day  " 61 

Thorough  mastery  of  his  subject 62 

The  firmament 65 

\Vliy  called  heaven 66 

Why  not  pronounced  "  good  " 66 

Let  the  dry  land  appear 68 

Completion  of  the  continents 68 

"  Not  of  course  " 69 

Meaning  of  "  let  appear  " 70 

Later  Hebrew  Science 70 

The  Geological  account 71 

Ancient  life 72 

Grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit  trees 73 

Angiosperms 73 

Why  these  are  placed  in  the  same  period  as  the  appear- 
ance of  the  dry  land 74 

Why  speak  of  these  and  remain  silent  as  to  earlier 

flora 75 

A  BIOLOGICAL  DATE 76 

Uniformity  of  law 76 

No  seasons  then 77 

"  Let  there  be  lights  " -> 77 

Plants  may  have  been  created  afterwards  also 81 

BIOLOGICAL  DATE,  a  later  one 82 

"  He  made  the  Stars  also  " 82 

After  the  Glaciers 85 

Fifth  creative  period 85 

Sixth  creative  period 88 

TheSabbath 90 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   III. 

THE    DAYS. 

PAGB 

Former  explanations  of  their  meaning 92 

First  use  of  "  day  " 93 

"  One  day  " 94 

Days,  as  epochal 95-97 

Day,   as  an  indefinite  period 97 

ON  THE  PECULIAR  PHRASEOLOGY  OP  THE  DAY  CLAUSES. 

"  One  "  not  "  first " 99 

A  peculiar  expression 99 

The  Author  knew  all  modern  Science 100 

The  axis  perpendicular 101 

The  true  key  to  the  "  days  " 102 

The  completions  were  world-wide 104 

Sabbath 105 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  EVIDENCE  FURTHER  CONSIDERED. 

A  law  of  development 107 

The  order  of  development 108 

A  controlling  Intelligence 109 

Mosaic  view  of  God's  part  in  development 112 

If  Genesis  is  a  myth,  so  is  all  physical  science 115 

Comparison  in  detail  of  the  two  records 120 

Sir  John  Leslie  "...  126 

Resume  of  facts  in  Genesis 129 

The  philosophical  division  into  six  periods 131 

CHAPTER  V. 

ON  THE   SECOND  CHAPTER  OF  GENESIS. 

The  connection  with  the  first 136 

A  paraphrase 139 

Formation  of  Man.. 139 


CONTENTS.  XV 

PAGE 

Garden  of  Eden  formed 140 

Centres  of  creation 141 

Tree  of  life 141 

Tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil 141 

Formation  of  Eve 143 


PART  II. 

STUDIES  IN  GENESIS. 

A  HARMONY  OP  THE  PIE8T  TWO  CHAPTERS 147 

THE  PERSONALITY  OP  THE  MOSAIC  ACCOUNT  OP 
CREATION. 

An  impersonal  Genesis 155 

Impossibility  of ." 156 

Elohim 157 

GOD'S  VERDICT  OF  APPROVAL. 

Why  some  acts  are  pronounced  "good  "  and  others  not.  157 

THE  DIVINE  MONOLOGUE 161 

The  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters. .  163 

ON  THE  "  SIX  DAYS  "  OP  THE  FOURTH  COMMANDMENT. .  .  165 
ON  THE  PLANTS  AND  ANIMALS  OF  EDEN 168 

CONJECTURES  AS  TO  THE  PHYSICAL  PACTS  UNDERLYING 
THE  MOSAIC  ACCOUNT  OP  THE  CREATION  OF  ANI- 
MALS..    175 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

PART  III. 
INTRODUCTION. 

PAQB 

What  was  the  work  of  the  Fourth  day  ? 187 

Opinions  as  to 187 

Geological  difficulties  of  former  explanations 188 

If  true,  what  must  have  been  done 189 

The  field  is  open 190 

Where  this  work  is  placed 191 

Four  lines  of  proof 192 

„     THE  CAUSE  AND  EPOCH  OF  THE  INCLINATION 
OF  EARTH'S  AXIS. 

SECTION  I. 

Axis  has  changed  its  position 195 

The  present  question 197 

Conclusions  based  on  Uniformity  of  law 198 

And  on  polar  fossils 199 

Geological  evidence, 199 

Importance  of  light  to  plants,  etc 200 

Answer  to  Lyell 205 

SECTION  II. 

Possible  causes 210 

A  miraculous  interposition 210 

Magnetic  influence  of  the  Sun 212 

Effects  of  Meteors 213 

Centrifugal  forces 214 

Attraction  of  Sun  and  Moon  upon  upheavals 218 

Polar  upheavals,  existence  of 222 

Glaciers 222 

Upheavals  normal 225 

Magnitude  of  a  needed  Circumpolar  upheaval 227 

Lyell's  map 228 


CONTENTS.  XV 11 

PAGE 

Sources  of  polar  upheavals 230 

Ice-caps 231 

Difference   in  inclination  of  Moon's  orbit  and  Earth's 

equator,  not  largely  due  to  movement  of  the  Moon.  233 

Conclusion 236 

Resume 237 

ANOTHER  THEORY  AS  TO  THE  WORK  OF  THE  FOURTH  DAT  241 

COSMOLOGY. 

What  it  is  proposed  to  show 244 

What  is  assumed 245 

Primordial  condition 245 

Cause  of  motion 246 

First  important  conclusion 247 

Effect  of  upheavals 248 

Results  of  a  Nebulous  Condition 250 

A  series  of  planets 252 

Orbital  and  axial  movements  normally  in  same  direction.  252 

Axial  motions  all  normally  in  same  direction 253 

Orbits  eccentric 255 

Planes  inclined 256 

Planes  of  the  equators  inclined  from  0°  to  180° 259 

Retrograde  motion  of  Satellites 263 

Direction  of  Satellites  may  differ  from  axial  motion  of 

primaries 264 

Saturn's  eighth  Satellite 265 

Inclination  of  Moon's  orbit 269 

Sun's  axis  inclined,  cause  of 274 

THE   ROTATION   OF   THE   MOON. 

Moon  once  revolved  more  rapidly  than  now 275 

Lunar  tides 276 

Lunar  ridges 277 

Earth  once  revolved  more  rapidly 278 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Why  the  exterior  planets  revolve   more  rapidly  than 

the  inner  ones 279 

Mars 279 

CONCLUSION. 

Nebulous  mass  would  generate  a  system  similar  to  the 

Solar 280 

The  plastic  force  was  heat 281 

Back  to  Genesis 282 

THE   ASTEROIDS. 

Three  theories 283 

Another  theory 284. 

A  not  unreasonable  explanation 286 

No  anomaly 287 

RINGS  OF  SATURN. 

Its  rings  and  satellites 288 

General  opinion  of 288 

A  theory  in  reference  to 288 

Temperature  of 289 

On  the  densities  of  planets 290 

Effects  of  rings 291 


UNIVER 


INTRODUCTORY. 


TO  THOSE   WHO  RECEIVE  THE  BIBLE  AS  A 
REVELATION  FROM  GOD. 


great  religious  question  of  to-day  resolves 
itself  into  three:   Is  there  a  God?     Is  he  a 
personal  God  ?     Has  he  given  us  a  revelation  ? 

An  affirmative  answer  to  the  last,  if  sustained, 
is  an  answer  to  all.  In  reference  to  the  sufficiency 
of  the  reply,  it  is  a  matter  of  no  consequence, 
whether  that  revelation  be  long  or  short,  whether 
it  is  contained  in  one  chapter  or  fifty.  It  is  the 
fact  that  any  revelation  has  been  made,  that  con- 
clusively answers  the  questions. 

Still,  if  it  could  be  shown  beyond  cavil,  that 
one  chapter  of  a  book  claiming  to  be  a  revelation, 
was  really  such,,  the  probability  of  a  like  authority 
for  the  other  portions  would  be  infinitely  increased, 
and  the  burden  of  proving  a  negative  would  be 
thrown  upon  those  who  deny  it. 

The  reality  of  such  a  revelation  is  earnestly 
asserted  on  the  one  side,  and  denied  upon  the 
other.  The  controversy  has  been  long,  each  party 
claims  the  victory  thus  far,  and  each  professes 
to  be  confident  of  the  final  result. 
1* 


10  INTRODUCTORY. 

But  to  one  who  studies  the  history  of  the  last 
hundred  years,  it  is  evident  that  the  real  success 
has  been  with  the  defenders  of  a  revelation,  at  least 
in  the  departments  of  History,  Archaeology,  Phi- 
lology, and  Geography,  although  these  were,  not 
long  ago,  loudly  proclaimed  as  the  witnesses  that, 
when  fully  heard,  should  destroy  the  credibility 
of  the  Bible ;  for,  whatever  men  may  say  as  to  other 
revelations,  the  Bible  is  the  only  book  that  is  seri- 
ously considered  by  those  who  have  engaged  in 
this  conflict. 

So  overwhelmingly  corroborative  is  the  result 
of  these  investigations,  that  we  shall  probably  hear 
no  more  against  the  historical  verity  of  the  Bible. 
The  same  class  of  opponents  are  now  weaving  the- 
"ories  on  which  the  facts  recorded  may  be  strung  as 
facts,  but  with  a  purely  natural  explanation. 

The  conflict  at  the  present  day  is  more  intense 
than  ever,  perhaps  because  it  is  limited  to  the  one 
field  of  Natural  Science,  perhaps  from  a  conscious- 
ness that  no  other  strong  line  of  attack  is  left. 

The  assaults  more  or  less  directly  centre  on  the 
Mosaic  Account  of  Creation.  In  fact,  that  is  the 
key  to  the  whole  position.  Its  assailants  must 
show  its  falsity  or  admit  the  reality  of  a  revelation. 
If  they  fail  in  that,  all  is  lost.  There  is  not  left 
them  even  a  safe  line  of  retreat.  To  admit  the 
truth  of  the  Mosaic  account,  annihilates  disbelief 
in 'the  personality  of  God,  in  his  personal  inter- 
ference in  the  affairs  of  men,  and  in  miracles,  for  it 


INTRODUCTORY.  11 

is  itself,  if  true,  a  personal  interference  and  a  mira- 
cle, the  very  things  as  to  whose  existence  there 
was  debate. 

Into  this  conflict  I  propose  to  enter,  not  to  ex- 
plain and  soften  down  the  words  of  Moses,  but  to 
take  them,  verba  ipsissima,  just  as  written,  abating 
not  one  iota. 

This  narrative  deals  with  events  that  occurred, 
if  they  occurred  at  all,  before  man  appeared  upon 
the  earth.  It  cannot  therefore,  like  many  other 
parts  of  the  Bible,  be  collated  with  ancient  manu- 
scripts or  monumental  inscriptions. 

But  we  have  other  means  of  testing  it,  unknown 
till  within  the  last  few  decades.  These  are  found 
in  the  positive  knowledge  of  very  many  important 
facts  in  our  world's  ante-human  history. 

I  turn  therefore  to  the  marvelous  results  obtain- 
ed by  astronomers,  geologists,  and  philosophers,  and 
summon  the  sciences  they  have  called  into  exist- 
ence. By  these  I  propose  to  show  the  literal  truth 
of  the  first  two  chapters  of  Genesis,  not  only  as  to 
the  things  said  to  have  been  done,  but,  what  is,  if 
possible,  more  extraordinary,  as  to  the  very  order 
of  their  occurrence. 

No  scientist  can  challenge  these  Witnesses. 
Indeed,  his  rejection  of  them  would  be  suicide, 
while  their  admission  is  fatal  to  the  whole  array 
of  infidelity  based  upon  a  supposed  contradiction 
between  Moses  and  the  history  of  our  world  as 
recorded  by  Nature  herself. 


12  INTRODUCTORY. 

Nor  can  they  be  charged  with  a  bias  toward 
the  supernatural.  Indeed,  by  a  strange  but  provi- 
dential misapprehension,  it  has  been,  and  is  even 
now,  the  loudly  proclaimed  belief  of  the  oppo- 
nents of  the  Bible,  that  the  evidence  of  these  Wit- 
nesses, if  fairly  and  impartially  received,  would 
result  in  the  consignment  of  the  Book  to  the 
myths  of  an  effete  mythology,  by  the  side  of 
Hindu  and  other  absurd  Cosmogonies. 

While  no  believer  in  the  Bible  shared  such 
expectations,  having  grounds  for  his  belief  inde- 
pendent of  all  theories,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
many  have  felt  great  fears  of  Science,  and  have 
watched  its  progress  with  jealous  eyes.  Antici- 
pating a  conflict  of  statements,  they  have  taken 
refuge  in  the  assertion  that  the  Bible  is  a  No- 
Science  Book  ;  as  if  the  God  of  all  science  could 
indite  an  account  of  creation,  and  give  no  infor- 
mation about  it ! 

The  evidence  that  will  be  presented  in  this 
essay  will  be  drawn  from  the  following  Sciences : 

Astronomy ;  including  the  Nebular  Hypothesis, 
Cosmic  changes  from  the  Nebula  to  the  Planet, 
the  present  condition  of  the  Sun  and  larger  planets, 
the  Stellar  Universe,  and  also  the  attraction  of 
gravitation  and  the  laws  of  motion. 

Optics ;  embracing  the  Undulatory  Theory  of 
Light,  and  the  results  of  Spectroscopic  observa- 
tions. 

Geology ;   including  Paleontology,  and   espe- 


INTRODUCTORY.  13 

cially  the  Glacial  Period,  in  reference  to  its  Bio- 
logical Epoch,  as  well  as  Climatic  position. 

Geography,  Physical  and  Descriptive. 

Botany,  and  Zoology,  and  Meteorology.  The 
last  at  least  as  far  as  the  laws  regulating  the  capa- 
city of  the  atmosphere  for  water. 

In  addition  to  these,  evidence  derived  from 
the  following  generalizations  reached  only  of  late 
by  modern  thought : 

The  Correlation  of  Forces. 

Uniformity  of  Law. 

A  Law  of  Development. 

As  to  a  portion  of  the  testimony  there  will  be 
more  or  less  questioning;  but  as  to  the  great  mass, 
it  will  so  clearly  corroborate  the  story  in  Genesis, 
that  its  very  completeness  will  render  the  reader 
LJicrednlotiB  at  first,  as  when  one  has  unexpectedly 
fallen  upon  some  great  vein  of  gold,  he  stands 
dazed  and  refuses  to  believe  his  own  eyes. 

I  am  aware  also  of  the  peculiar  parentage  of 
some  of  these  Witnesses,  and  do  not  wonder  that 
the  simple-hearted  believer,  who  has  in  his  own 
consciousness  a  Witness  that  no  Science  can  give 
or  comprehend,  should  start  back  and  exclaim, 
"  Timeo  Danaos  et  dona  ferentes."  * 

My  argument  is  not  for  such,  but  for  that 

large  class  to  whom  Science  is  the  only  revelation. 

It  would  be  outside  of  my  plan   to  attempt  to 

establish  for  others  the  truthfulness  of  my  Wit- 

*  I  fear  the  Greeks  even  bringing  gifts. 


14:  INTRODUCTORY. 

nesses.  Those  who  doubt  it,  will  find  excellent 
works  specially  on  these  subjects.  If,  however, 
for  reasons  satisfactory  to  themselves,  they  believe 
the  Mosaic  narrative  to  be  true,  I  do  not  see  how 
they  can  avoid  accepting  the  results  of  Science, 
so  far  at  least,  as  they  are  employed  in  this  essay. 
In  fact,  the  two  corroborate  each  other. 

Should  any  one  who  reads  this  book  find  in 
it  statements  as  to  what  Moses  says,  or  does  not 
say,  which  rim  counter  to  his  belief,  I  beg  him  to 
see  for  himself  whether  they  are  sustained  by  the 
words  of  the  writer. 

It  has  been  apologetically  said  that  this  ac- 
count is  phenomenal,  and  that  of  course  its 
statements  were  not  intended  to  be  taken  lite- 
rally. 

They  are  indeed  "phenomenal,"  and  so  is  the 
coming  transit  of  Venus,  so  are  the  photographs 
of  that  "  phenomenon,"  which  Scientists  will  soon 
be  studying  with  micrometer  and  microscope. 
"Phenomenal"  !  indeed  they  are,  and  hence  their 
realism,  their  photographic  truth. 

I  trust  no  one  will  so  misunderstand  me  as  to 
suppose  I  intend  this  assertion  of  positive  literal- 
ism to  embrace  the  whole  Bible.  No  book  more 
abounds  in  poetical  imagery,  none  would  lead  to 
greater  absurdities,  if  received  without  that  com- 
mon sense  which  we  apply  to  all  others. 

It  was  the  lack  of  this,  and  the  substitution 
of  the  Commentators'  notions  derived  from  figura- 


INTRODUCTORY.  15 

live  portions  of  the  Bible,  and  largely  from  false 
Science,  for  the  simple  words  of  Moses,  that  pro- 
duced the  strange  vagaries  which  have  been 
charged  to,  and  attacked  or  defended,  as  parts  of 
the  Biblical  account  of  Creation.  Where  in  the 
first  two  chapters  of  Genesis  (or  elsewhere)  did 
Cosmas  find  authority  for  believing  the  world 
was  modelled  after  the  tabernacle  ?  Where  learn 
that  the  earth  is  just  twice  as  long  as  it  is  wide  ? 
or  that  there  are  no  antipodes  2  Yet  defending 
these,  and  other  equally  groundless  absurdities, 
is  even  now  claimed  to  be  the  necessary  result  of 
receiving  these  chapters  as  literally  true !  * 

The  truth  is,  this  account  of  creation,  like  the 
fifty-third  of  Isaiah,  is  utterly  incomprehensible 
until  the  true  explanation  is  found.  The  account 
of  our  Saviour's  sufferings  and  triumphs  seemed 
a  strange  and  touching  medley,  that  could  never 
be  aught  else  than  poetical  metaphors ;  but  when 
the  prophecies  became  history,  it  was  seen  to  be 
the  simple,  touching  story  of  the  Man  of  Sorrows, 
so  literal  that  it  reads  like  the  words  of  an  eye- 
witness. Its  strange  and  apparently  contradic- 
tory statements  meant  just  exactly  what  they  said. 

Why  add  to  the  text  our  suppositions  ?     Why 

*  In  spite  of  all  that  has  been  said  about  the  folly  of 
believing  the  literal  truth  of  the  Mosaic  account,  no  writer 
or  speaker,  as  far  as  I  know,  has  ever  taken  it  to  be  literally 
true.  Paradoxical  as  this  seems,  I  believe  an  examination 
of  writings  upon  Genesis  will  sustain  this  assertion, 


16  INTRODUCTORY. 

take  anything  from  it  ?  We  have  no  right  to  do 
so.  Moreover,  we  thus  only  raise  structures  for 
its  opponents  to  batter  down.  From  one  such  to 
another,  the  defenders  of  this  account  have  been 
driven,  until  it  is  no  wonder  that  Scientists,  for- 
getful of  their  own  greater  vagaries,%sneer  at  the 
abortive  efforts  to  make — not  the  words  of  Moses 
— but  Commentators'  explanations  square  with 
their  (the  Scientists')  theories. 

It  will  be  found,  I  think,  that  the  only  tenable 
ground  is  based  upon  the  assumption  that  in  this 
narrative  we  have  the  carefuHy  worded  and  ar- 
ranged account  of  an  Eye-Witness  who  could  say 
of  the  things  he  relates,  as  did  the  Son  of  An- 
chises,  but  in  an  infinitely  higher  sense,  "  Quorum 
f  ui  magna  pars."  * 

At  the  commencement  of  the  study  of  this 
Narrative  I  assumed,  as  a  proposition  self-evident  in 
itself,  that  there  could  be  no  modern  discovery  of 
any  ante-human  fact,  whether  an  event,  or  a  law, 
or  an  order  of  occurrence,  that  was  not  infinitely 
better  known  to  God  at  the  time  he  is  said  to  have 
given  this  account  to  Moses,  than  it  can  be,  to-day, 
to  the  wisest  Scientist. 

Hence,  if  there  should  be  any  error  found  in 
it,  either  the  Narrative  is  from  a  being  of  limited 
intelligence  or  the  reader  has  misunderstood  it. 
Clearly,  then,  the  questions  to  which  I  ought  first 
to  apply  myself  were  these :  What  does  the  Ac- 
*  Of  which  I  was  a  great  part. 


INTRODUCTORY.  17 

count  say?  and  what  meaning  is  intended  to  be 
conveyed  ? 

In  general  there  is  but  little  difficulty  in  an- 
swering the  first  question.*  Our  common  Ver- 
sion is  in  the  main  sufficiently  exact,  although  I 
would  in  some  things  go  closer  to  the  original, 
as  in  the  use  of  "  expanse"  for  firmament, -and  in 
the  translation  of  certain  clauses  in  reference  to 
the  "  days,"  as  will  be  fully  set  forth  hereafter. 

As  to  the  second  inquiry,  "What  meaning  is 
intended  to  be  conveyed  ? "  I  found  most  abun- 
dant room  for  study.  I  .turned  first  to  those 
writers  who  had  made  Genesis  a  special  study,  but 
did  not  find  that  harmony  between  their  asser- 
tions and  the  facts  of  our  world's  history  which 
the  high  claims  of  the  Narrative  appeared  to  de- 
mand/ 

There  remained  the  story  itself.  To  it  I 
turned,  seeking  in  every  direction  for  a  solution  of 
its  difficulties,  groping  in  the  dark,  feeling  my  way 
passage  by  passage,  testing  now  this  theory  and 
now  that,  only  to  throw  away  one  after  another,  as 
I  came  to  insurmountable  obstacles  or  flat  contra- 
dictions between  the  proposed  solution  and  what 
I  knew  to  be  facts.  At  last,  after  many  days, 
flashed  upon  me,  in  all  the  sublimity  of  its  divine 
simplicity,  the  key  to  the  mystery. 

*  There  is  a  rich  mine  of  precious  inetal  yet  to  be  worked 
by  some  Hebrew  scholar  who  shall  thoroughly  search  the 
original  with  all  the  light  of  physical  science. 


18  INTRODUCTORY. 


NARRATIVE  MEANS  EXACTLY  WHAT  IT  SAYS  ; 
NO  MORE,  NO  LESS  ;  AND  THE  ORDER  THERE  GIVEN  IS 
THE  EXACT  ORDER  IN  WHICH  OCCURRED  THE  EVENTS 
IT  RECORDS. 

This  I  did  not  start  with  as  an  CL  priori  princi- 
ple :  it  came  to  me  after  an  exhaustive  examination 
of  everything  else.  Now,  I  can  see  that  it  is  only 
a  corollary  of  the  proposition  1  started  with,  and 
it  is  wonderful  to  note  how  the  two  Records,  seen 
through  this,  like  the  two  pictures  of  a  stereoscope, 
visibly  glide  into  one  and  stand  out  from  the  page 
in  their  true  perspective.  Every  line,  although,  in 
one  when  seen  by  itself,  apparently  useless,  yet 
viewed  with  its  other  part,  helps  the  marvelous 
truthfulness  of  the  resultant  view. 

PLAN   OF   THIS   BOOK. 

In  the  first  chapter,  after  showing  the  intrin- 
sic possibility  and  desirableness  of  a  Revelation,  I 
consider  the  different  methods  of  establishing  its 
authenticity.  I  then  take  up  the  Mosaic  Account 
as  claiming  to  be  a  revelation,  and  endeavor,  by 
removing  the  accretions  of  the  ages,  to  narrow  the 
discussion  to  the  text.  I  inquire  as  to  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Author  in  making  this  particular  Rev- 
elation, and  examine  the  objections  which  have 
been  made  to  the  credibility  of  it,  on  scientific 
grounds. 

In  the  next  chapter,  after  seeking  to  cultivate 
in  the  reader  a  sense  of  historical  perspective,  I 


INTRODUCTORY.  19 

N 

collate  the  statements  of  Moses  with  those  of  the 
"  Witnesses." 

This  is  followed  by  a  disquisition  upon  the 
«  days." 

In  the  fourth  chapter  is  considered  the  Law  of 
Development  and  its  relation  to  this  Narrative; 
which  is  followed  by  a  further  comparison  of  Sci- 
ence and  "  Kevelation." 

The  Account  found  in  the  second  chapter  of 
Genesis  is  examined  in  the  fifth  of  this. 

In  Part  III.  is  a  full  discussion  of  the  work 
of  the  fourth  day,  inquiring  as  to  the  time  and  cause 
of  the  present  inclination  of  the  earth's  axis.  This 
inquiry  is  conducted  solely  as  a  physical  question, 
in  the  light  of  astronomy  and  the  geological  de- 
velopments of  organic  life  considered  with  strict 
reference  to  Uniformity  of  Law.  The  Inquiry 
reaches  beyond  our  earth,  and  in  "  Cosmology," 
the  Nebular  Hypothesis  is  shown  to  account  for  a 
great  variety  of  facts  in  the  Solar  System. 

Whatever  doubt  there  may  be  as  to  the  cor- 
rectness of  my  exposition  of  the  work  of  the  fourth 
day,  and  whether  my  positions  in  reference  to  it 
can  be  maintained  or  not,  the  reader  will  note 
that  it  is  an  independent  portion  of  the  argument 
for  the  truth  of  Genesis,  and  may  be  rejected 
without  affecting  the  remainder. 

I  have  often  regretted  while  studying  this  Nar- 
rative, that  some  one  who  was  master  of  the  subject 
and  gifted  with  fitting  command  of  language,  had 


20  INTRODUCTORY. 

not  given,  in  plain  Anglo-Saxon,  and  with  a  brevi- 
ty approaching  that  of  Moses,*  an  authoritative 
statement  from  a  purely  scientific  stand-point,  of 
tha  world's  ante-human  history,  taking  up  the 
same  topics. 

Will  not  Tyndall,  or  Spencer,  or  Huxley  yet 
do  it  ?  It  is  difficult  to  couceive  of  a  work  of 
greater  interest. 

In  a  second  Part  are  discussed  various  matters 
more  or  less  intimately  connected  with  the  account 
in  Genesis.  In  this  the  literal  truth  of  that  his- 
tory is  assumed  as  proved,  and  rieference  is  made 
to  it  as  in  Geometry  one  refers  to  a  previous  pro- 
position. 

Probably,  this  intensity  of  belief  will,  at  first, 
be  shared  by  few,  but  the  very  clearness  of  my 
convictions,  compels  me  to  regard  the  acceptance 
of  the  same  by  others  as  only  a  question  of  time. 

As  to  difficulties  outside  of  these  two  chapters, 
it  does  not  fall  within  my  plan  to  discuss  them. 
It  may  be,  that  in  the  present  state  of  knowledge, 
it  is  impossible  to  satisfactorily  remove  them ; 
but  the  lesson  of  the  past  should  teach  us  to  wait 
in  patience,  believing  that  He  who  could  give  the 
ante-human  history  of  the  world,  can  in  due  time 
vindicate  his  truth. 

I  will  add,  as  the  result  of  some  careful  study, 
that  this  Narrative  grows  broader  and  deeper  the 

*  The  Mosaic  account,  omitting  repetitions  and  Xvords  of 
approval,  contains  only  some  tlJree  hundred  and  fifty  words. 


INTRODUCTORY.  21 

more  it  is  explored  and  the  more  the  full  light  of 
Science  is  turned  upon  it.  Instead  of  a  purling 
brook  sweetly  singing  a  "  hymn  of  Creation"  as  it 
rolls  over  its  pebbly  bed,  it  expands  to  an  ocean 
unfathomable  and  shoreless.  It  is  not  a  history  of 
our  world  merely,  but  an  epitome  of  the  Universe. 

I  trust  the  time  is  not  distant  when  the  true 
importance  of  this  Account,  as  the  highest  possible 
objective  evidence  of  the  reality  of  a  Revelation, 
will  be  recognized,  and  a  professorship  of  Biblical 
Cosmogony  be  an  acknowledged  necessity  in  every 
theological  seminary. 

The  light  which  shone  in  the  face  of  Moses  as 
he  came  down  from  the  Mount,  has  always  shone 
in  this  Narrative,  but  our  eyes  have  been  holden 
till  now.  Science,  at  last,  has  stripped  off  the 
bandages  of  ignorance  and  misapprehension,  and 
revealed,  not  the  vacuity  too  often  fondly  hoped 
for,  but  the  insupportable  glory  of  God  the  Crea- 
tor, the  Jehovah-Elohim. 

In  the  conflict  between  truth  and  error  now 
raging  around  us,  if  those  who  ought  to  lead  in 
the  battle,  are  to  come  down  from  their  retreats  in 
the  u  no-science  "  of  the  Bible,  and,  with  a  full  and 
muscular  belief  which  takes  God's  Book  to  be 
from  the  Fountain  of  all  knowledge,  assume  the 
offensive,  they  must  be  shown  that  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis  is  the  vital  centre,  the  locus  wt&,  of 
all  Science.  They  must  be  made  to  comprehend 
that  God's  two  Eecords  are  indissolubly  one.  Both 


22  INTRODUCTORY. 

are  true  or  both  are  false.  When  this  belief  shall 
have  penetrated  the  marrow  of  their  being,  "  their 
trumpet  will  give  no  uncertain  sound." 

I  am  weary  of  hearing  those  who  claim  to 
believe  the  Bible  is  from  God,  explain  (?)  away 
passage  after  passage,  till  the  strongest  words  melt 
into  a  dim  cloudiness,  and  there  seems  to  be  no- 
thing so  certain,  nothing  so  fixed  that  it  may  not 
be  shifted  to  meet  our  logical  exigencies. 

So  thoroughly  ingrained  has  this  habit  become 
that  I  fear  the  hardest  thing  to  believe  in  this 
Essay  will  be,  that  the  Author  of  Genesis  intended 
to  say  exactly  what  he  has  said,  and  to  be  respon- 
sible for  just  that  and  nothing  more,  and  that  the 
most  objectionable  thing  will  be  the  rigidness  with 
which  this  principle  is  adhered  to. 

To  some  good  men  the  adherence  to  the  very 
words  of  the  text  will,  in  their  opinion,  be  the 
rejection,  not  of  their  beliefs,  but  of  the  account 
itself  ! 

Will  not  the  reader  hold  himself  so  far  open  to 
conviction  as  to  test  this  method  of  exegesis,  and 
judge  of  its  correctness  by  the  results? 


PART   I. 


ADDRESSED  TO  SCIENTISTS  WHO  BELIEVE 


THE  MOSAIC   ACCOUNT  OF   CREATION   A  MYTH. 


"Let  all  the  nations  be  gathered  together,  and  let  the  people  be 
assembled;  who  among  them  can  show  us  former  things?  let  them  bring 
forth  their  witnesses  that  they  may  be  justified  ;  or  let  them  hear 
and  say  it  is  the  truth."— ISAIAH,  XLIII.,  ix. 


MOSAIC  ACCOUNT  OF  CREATION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

OBJECTIONS  TO  A  REVELATION  CONSIDERED. 

NO  one  possessed  of  ordinary  intelligence  can, 
without  deep  interest,  read  of  the  labors  of 
Scientists  in  enlarging  the  bounds  of  knowledge, 
or  fail  to  admire  the  ingenious  experiments  and 
patient  perseverance,  the  clear  vision  and  close 
logic,  by  which  they  have  achieved  so  many  tri- 
umphs. 

In  my  humble  way,  I  sympathize  with  that 
spirit  which  dares  to  question  Nature,  deems  her 
answers  eternal  verities,  and  fears  no  collision  of 
truth  with  truth. 

Some  of  these  men  whose  achievements  exalt 
our  ideas  of  the  capabilities  of  our  race,  and  whose 
honesty  no  one  has  a  right  to  question,  assure  us 
that  they  find  in  their  search  after  truth,  evidence 
of  no  other  God  than  an  unknown  and  unknow- 
able First  Cause,  and  that  they  know  of  no  other 
Revelation  than  the  phenomena  of  nature  and  the 
laws  and  relations  existing  between  them. 
2 


26  MOSAIC   ACCOUNT   OF    CREATION. 

In  the  presence  of  such,  it  is  becoming  to 
speak  of  one's  self  with  modesty ;  yet,  as  to  each 
his  consciousness  is  higher  than  the  authority  of 
the  greatest,  I  may  say,  that  beyond  nature  I  see, 
not  merely  a  First  Cause,  but,  judging  as  I  must 
from  the  visible  effects  of  his  causation,  an  infi- 
nitely good,  wise,  and  powerful  Being.  That  he  is 
infinitely  powerful  is  implied  necessarily  in  the 
assertion  that  he  is  the  "First  Cause."  That  he  i& 
good,  I  believe  from  the  general  character  of  crea- 
tion ;  that  he  is  wise,  I  am  sure,  since  all  Scientists 
are  most  earnestly  engaged  in  the  study  of  his 
works,  and  would  scout  as  the  most  preposterous 
absurdity  the  assumption  that  any  man  or  set  of 
men  ever  had,  or  ever  could,  fully  grasp  their 
wisdom.  So  logically  impossible  is  the  negative 
of  this,  that  no  man,  I  apprehend,  ever  lived  who 
could  satisfy  himself  with  it. 

A  large  class,  however,  do  deny  that  this 
Being  has  so  far  cared  for  man  as  to  give  him  a 
written  Revelation.  This  denial  is  based  partly 
upon  what  seems  to  them  its  intrinsic  improba- 
bility, and  partly,  though  far  more  positively,  upon 
its  alleged  conflict  of  statement  with  what  they 
know  to  be  truths  derived  from  the  study  of  his 
works. 

The  intrinsic  improbability  of  a  Revelation 
might  well  be  asserted,  if  it  could  be  shown  to  be 
needless.  But  I  find  in  myself  and  in  others  a 
moral  sense,  imperfect,  liable  to  be  swayed  by 


OBJECTIONS    TO    A    REVELATION.  27 

prejudice  or  by  honest  errors  of  judgment,  as  well 
as  by  a  natural  inclination  to  decide  that  to  be 
right  which  accords  with  my  wishes.  I  notice, 
too,  that  it  is  only  after  many  ages  of  experience, 
and  a  wide  field  of  observation,  that  a  few  minds 
of  unusual  acuteness  are  able  to  deduce  from 
"  Sociology  "  any  tolerable  rules  of  life,  while  they 
utterly  fail  to  obtain  any  light  on  our  relations  to 
the  Supreme  Being,  or  on  the  questions  that  force 
themselves  upon  every  thoughtful  person  as  to 
man's  condition  beyond  the  grave.  "If  a  man 
die  shall  he  live  again  ? "  is  a  question  to  which 
"  Sociology  "  can  give  no  answer. 

A  Revelation  then  is  not  needless.  What  a 
priori  reason  there  is  against  it  I  am  unable  to 
discover.  Certainly  the  great  First  Cause  does  not 
lack  ability  to  give  it.  If  he  be  "  unconditioned," 
he  is  not  bounded  on  any  side  by  a  "  cannot,"  and 
the  evident  utility  of  such  a  manifestation  of  him- 
self would  mark  it  as  eminently  in  harmony  with 
the  generous  care  that  has  provided  so  liberally  for 
the  physical  well-being  of  his  creatures. 

The  question  then  becomes  one  simply  of  evi- 
dence. Is  there  such  a  Revelation  ? 

There  is  widely  spread  through  the  world  a 
book  which  claims  to  have  been  given  by  God, 
and  to  speak  with  the  weight  of  his  authority. 

In  his  name,  it  commands  and  forbids,  prom- 
ises and  threatens.  It  professes  also  to  give  a 
limited,  but  so  far  as  it  goes,  an  accurate  account 


28  MOSAIC   ACCOUNT   OF    CREATION. 

of  man's  state  after  death,  and  the  conditions  of 
future  well-being. 

It  is  at  once  admitted,  that  a  book  with  such 
pretensions,  needs  to  be  well  authenticated  ;  and 
it  will  be  well  to  consider  on  what  evidence  we 
should  grant  its  claims,  for  we  are  reasonable 
beings,  and  are  no  more  at  liberty  to  submit  our- 
selves to  such  demands  without  sufficient  reason, 
than  to  close  our  ears  to  argument  in  their  behalf. 

Such  a  book  might  rest  on  miracles,  or  pro- 
phecy, or  on  a  peculiar  adaptation  to  the  wants  of 
the  race.  To  many  minds  these  would  be  abun- 
dantly sufficient,  and  such  evidence  is  offered  to  all 
who  choose  to  accept  it.  But  there  are  those 
who  deny  miracles  as  not  satisfactorily  proved,  or 
as  in  themselves  impossible  ;  who  regard  prophecy 
as  poetry,  or  as  written  after  the  events  it  pro- 
fesses to  foretell ;  and  as  for  peculiar  adaptation, 
that,  being  known  only  by  personal  experience, 
has  no  weight  with  those  whose  only  gospel  is  the 
development  that  comes  from  unconsciously  profit- 
ing by  the  experience  of  the  race.* 

I  can  imagine  another  kind  of  evidence  which 
seems  free  from  all  these  objections,  and  impossi- 
ble to  have  been  manufactured  for  the  purpose, 
by  any  man  or  set  of  men,  and  yet  abundantly 
within  the  ability  of  the  author  of  Genesis,  if  as 
claimed,  that  author  be  God. 

The  Book  might  contain  an  account  of  events 

*  Herbert  Spencer,  Morals  and  Moral  Sentiments,  p.  17. 


OBJECTIONS    TO    A    REVELATION.  g9 

which  occurred  in  the  history  of  the  world  before 
man  appeared  upon  it.  Nothing  would  be  so 
unanswerable  as  this,  providing  we  were  able  to 
discover  in  some  way  what  did  actually  take  place. 
Such  evidence  would  grow  in  strength  as  the  race 
increased  in  knowledge.  No  metaphysical  argu- 
ment could  weaken  it,  no  question  as  to  the  relia- 
bility of  testimony,  no  charge  of  deception,  inten- 
tional or  otherwise,  could  cast  doubt  upon  it. 

Such  an  account  being,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  beyond  the  power  of  the  writer,  would  be 
an  EVER-PRESENT  MIRACLE,  which  our  own  eyes 
could  see,  and  which  men  of  science,  friends  and 
foes,  could  carefully  and  leisurely  examine.  It 
would  be  more  unanswerable  than  a  continuation 
of  miracles  from  Apostolic  times  to  the  present. 
For,  raising  the  dead,  healing  the  sick,  or  feeding 
the  multitudes  would  from  their  very  repetition 
cease  to  be  miracles,  and  pass,  like  that  greater  act 
of  omnipotence,  the  birth  and  growth  of  a  human 
being,  into  the  domain  of  law,  and  cease  to  be  a 
wonder. 

Modern  science  has  given  us  the  knowledge 
of  many  very  important  facts  in  the  ante-human 
history  of  the  globe,  with  which  we  can  readily 
compare  any  statement  that  professes  to  come 
from  a  supernatural  source. 

It  is  evident  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  that 
such  a  statement,  if  from  the  All-wise,  must  be 
capable  of  being  fully  comprehended  only  in  pro- 


30  MOSAIC   ACCOUNT   OF   CREATION. 

portion  to  the  knowledge  and  mental  development 
of  its  recipients.  But  as  that  is  far  from  being  ex- 
haustive, a  proposition  purporting  to  be  from  Him, 
should  not  be  deemed  false,  because  we  fail  to 
comprehend  it,  nor  even  if  it  should  seem  to  us  to 
be  contradicted  by  known  facts.  One  should  be 
peculiarly  cautious  in  coming  to  such  a  conclusion, 
when  the  matter  in  question  is  not  the  enuncia- 
tion of  a  general  law,  or  universal  truth,  but  sim- 
ply a  statement  of  phenomena.  There  is  nothing 
so  unsafe  to  contradict,  so  intolerably  obstinate,  as 
an  actual  occurrence. 

Newton  was  led  to  declare  Huyghens'  law  of 
double  refraction  false,  and  the  achromatic  tele- 
scope an  impossibility,  because  they  appeared  to 
him  to  violate  well-established  laws.  The  lesson 
to  us  from  §uch  mistakes,  is  to  approach  all  ques- 
tions of  truth  with  reverent  docility,  ready  to  re- 
ceive and  firmly  hold  &\\  facts,  while  our  theories 
and  preconceived  notions  should  be  bound  to  us 
by  threads  of  gossamer. 

This  book,  with  its  high  pretensions,  is  before 
us.  It  is  admitted  on  every  side  to  have  been  in 
existence  many  centuries,  and  to  have  been 
handed  down,  as  a  precious  heirloom,  from  the 
remote  ancestors  of  a  small  nation  on  the  eastern 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  never  in  the  least  dis- 
tinguished for  scientific  attainments. 

Is  there  in  it  such  a  statement  of  ante-human 
events  as  the  argument  justly  demands?  It 


OBJECTIONS    TO    A    REVELATION.  31 

should  be  so  profound  as  to  be  beyond  the  possi- 
bility of  guesswork,  and  should  cover  so  many 
points  that  chance  coincidence  becomes  impossible. 
It  may  be  incomprehensible,  must  have  been  so  in 
the  earlier  ages  of  the  world,  may  be  so  still  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  but  it  must  contain  no  false- 
hood as  that  "  the  world  rests  upon  the  back  of  an 
ek'pliant  and  that  upon  a  tortoise." 

Turning  to  the  opening  chapter  of  this  Book, 
I  there  find  what  purports  to  be  just  such  a  state- 
ment as  the  argument  demands.  Beginning  at 
"  the  beginning,"  it  gives  the  early  history  of  the 
world,  not  in  mystic  phrases  or  Delphian  utter- 
ances, but  in  the  simplest  words,  in  the  most  un- 
ambiguous sentences.  Here  then  is  a  crucial  test. 
Tli is  account  does  or  does  not  agree  with  the 
facts  in  the  world's  history  brought  to  light  by 
Science. 

I  accept  the  issue. 

But  before  attempting  to  collate  the  account 
in  Genesis  with  that  found  in  the  records  of  the 
rocks  and  sky,  permit  me  to  consider  some  pre- 
liminary matters  and  to  clear  the  narrative  from 
things  foreign  to  it,  I  would  throw  aside,  save  so 
far  as  they  agree  with  the  very  words  of  Moses 
(verbis  ipsissimis\  all  statements  of  Commenta- 
tors, Jewish  or  Christian,  or  of  Scientists,  ancient 
or  modern,  as  to  what  he  does  or  does  not  say. 
They  spoke  in  good  faith  according  to  the  light 
they  had ;  as  such  in  modesty  I  receive  their 


32  MOSAIC    ACCOUNT   OF   CREATION. 

words,  and  give  them  thoughtful  consideration, 
nothing  more.  No  one  ought  to  be  influenced  by 
mere  authority.* 

Since  truth  or  falsehood  is  entirely  independent 
of  our  acceptance,  a  statement  as  to  who  does  or 
does  not  receive  it,  carries  little  weight  to  the  earn- 
est- inquirer.  Falsehood  has  had  authority  on  its 
side  more  often  than  truth.  Nearly  all  the  great 
names  in  Science  taught,  within  the  memory  of 
many  of  us,  that  heat  was  a  fluid  issuing  from  hot 
bodies,  and  light  consisted  of  corpuscles  shot  out 
from  the  sun.  The  weight  of  astronomical  author- 
ity, at  one  time,  was  in  favor  of  cycles  and  epicy- 
cles and  complicated  machinery  for  explaining  the 
movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  The  centuries 
are  strewed  with  the  debris  of  Scientific  Theories. 

But  no  one  would  think  it  just  to  reject  the 
results  of  modern  science,  because  of  the  errors 
and  failures  of  the  past,  or  to  sneer  at  the  efforts 
of  Scientists  to  make  their  theories  square  with  one 
another,  or  with  the  facts  of  nature.  They  would 
exclaim  against  such  injustice,  and  demand  that 
the  truth  or  falsehood  of  what  they  deem  a  law  of 

*  Prof  Tyndall,  in  his  article  on  Science  and  Religion, 
says :  "  In  our  day,  the  best  informed  clergymen  are  pre- 
pared to  admit  that  our  views  of  the  universe  and  its  Author 
are  not  impaired  but  improved  by  the  abandonment  of  the 
Mosaic  Account  of  Creation." 

I  more  than  doubt  the  correctness  of  his  broad  assertion, 
but  if  true  it  is  entirely  irrelevant,  save  as  an  interesting 
historical  fact. 


OBJECTIONS    TO    A   REVELATION.  33 

nature  be  decided,  not  by  what  their  predecessors 
may  have  said,  but  by  its  more  or  less  perfect 
adaptation  to,  and  harmony  with,  the  facts  con- 
cerned. 

In  like  manner,  when  the  question  is  as  to  the 
truth  of  the  Mosaic  Account,  common  justice  de- 
mands that  it  shall  not  be  condemned  for  theories 
or  explanations  that  have  proved  false,  nor  be- 
cause commentators  have  not  agreed  among  them- 
selves, but  that  it  shall  be  "judged  by  its  own 
words,  verbia  ipswsimis.  And  as  the  Scientist 
justly  requires  us  to  accept  as  true  his  enuncia- 
tion of  a  law  if  it  harmonizes  with  the  facts,  we 
demand  also  the  acceptance  of  the  Mosaic  Account 
if  it  harmonizes  with  the  record  written  in  the 
rocks  and  sky. 

I  am  thus  particular  to  confine  the  discussion 
to  the  text,  because  much  passes  current  as  the 
teaching  of  Moses,  among  the  rejecters,  and,  to 
some  extent  yet,  among  the  believers  in  his  ac- 
count, that  does  not  belong  to  him. 

During  the  ages  there  has  gathered  around  his 
history  a  mass  of  theories,  explanations  and  com- 
mentaries, outgrowths  for  the  most  part  of  the 
Science  of  those  days,  for  which  he  is  in  no  degree 
responsible.  Their  truth  or  falsehood  does  not 
affect  the  matter.  They  may  be  legitimate  tar- 
gets for  the  logic  and  ridicule  of  men  better  in- 
formed. It  is  the  text,  pure  and  simple,  that 
claims  to  be  a  Revelation  from  God. 
2* 


34:  MOSAIC   ACCOUNT   OF   CREATION. 

The  Book  of  Nature  as  far  as  its  pages  have 
been  read,  not  surmised  or  guessed  at,  I  accept  as 
truth  and  willingly  rest  the  case  upon  it.  This  I 
do  the  more  readily,  SINCE  NOW,  FOR  THE  FIRST 

TIME  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  OUR  RACE,  HAS  SCIENCE 
COME  UP  SO  NEARLY  ABREAST  WITH  THIS  NARRATIVE 
AS  TO  PERMIT  COMPARISON. 

To  the  last  few  decades  are  due  the  demonstra- 
tion (almost  perfect)  of  the  Nebular  Hypothesis, 
the  great  law  of  the  Correlation  and  Conservation 
of  Forces,  a  tolerably  complete  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  light,  the  invention  of  the  Spectroscope, 
the  collation  and  translation  of  the  discoveries  of 
Geologists,  and  eminently  the  knowledge  of  the 
Glacial  Epoch.  To  this  period  is  also  due  a  great 
advance  in  Physical  Geography,  the  discovery  of  a 
Law  of  Development,  and  of  Uniformity  of  Law, 
and  proof  of  the  unity  of  physical  constitution  of 
the  Stellar  Universe  and  the  Solar  System. 

I  shall  endeavor  to  show  the  harmony  of  these 
with  the  Mosaic  Narrative,  and  more  than  this, 
that  the  Author  of  that  wonderful  Account  knew 
of  these  discoveries,  and  that  its  rejection  necessi- 
tates theirs. 

By  the  Author  of  this  Narrative  I  mean  the 
person  that  furnished  Moses  with  the  facts  which 
he,  as  the  intelligent  instrument,  placed  on  record. 
As  to  how  the  story  was  made  known  to  him,  I 
have  nothing  to  offer.  It  lies  outside  of  this 
discussion. 


OBJECTIONS    TO   A   REVELATION.  35 

A  cursory  reading  of  the  first  Chapter  of  Gen- 
esis, waiving  for  the  moment  the  question  of  its 
truthfulness,  shows  it  to  differ  from  other  works 
in  Natural  Science,  in  this.  It  has  no  theories  to 
support,  offers  no  explanations,  formulates  no  law. 
The  facts  are  related,  but  there  is  no  attempt 
to  coordinate  them  with  each  other,  or  with 
other  facts.  In  this  it  resembles  a  series  of  photo- 
graphs. 

The  more  obvious  purpose  of  the  Author  seems 
to  have  been  the  removal  of  all  excuse  for  idolatry 
or  other  form  of  polytheism,  which  at  that  time 
manifested  itself  in  the  worship  of  Sun,  Moon  and 
Stars,  of  Earth  and  Sea,  of  vegetables,  and  of  almost 
all  organic  life.  This  was  done  by  representing 
God  (Elohim  and  the  Jehovah  Elohim)  as  crea- 
tor of  all  things,  and,  with  special  emphasis  and 
repetition,  as  the  maker  of  Sun,  Moon,  and  Stars, 
the  disposer  and  appointer  of  these,  the  princi- 
pal objects  of  idolatrous  worship.  To  impress  this 
truth  upon  the  race,  the  Author  inculcated  the 
observance  of  a  seventh  day  of  cessation  from 
labor,  as  a  memorial  of  God's  creatorship  and  a 
perpetual  protest  against  other  gods.*  So  im- 
portant, in  his  opinion,  was  this  arrangement  by 

*  A  disquisition  upon  the  advantages  of  the  Sabbath 
would  be  out  of  place  here.  I  wish  only  to  call  attention  to 
the  perfect  adaptation  of  the  means  to  the  end  in  view.  If 
this  day  had  been  observed  for  the  reason  assigned  in  the 
fourth  Commandment,  idolatry,  whether  ancient  fetichism  or 
more  modern  pantheism,  had  simply  been  impossible. 


36  MOSAIC    ACCOUNT    OF    CREATION. 

seven  days,  that  he  compressed  fifteen  distinct  cre- 
ative acts  into  six  creative  periods.* 

Another  purpose  underlies  this  Account,  not 
so  obvious,  but  as  it  seems  to  me,  none  the  less 
real;  it  was  to  authenticate  this  revelation  to 
future  ages,  "when  men  should  run  to  and  fro, 
and  knowledge  be  increased."  Consequently,  the 
Author  displays  a  mastership  of  his  subject,  a 
wealth  of  knowledge,  altogether  superfluous,  if  the 
object  previously  mentioned  was  the  only  one  in 
view. 

Whether  these  purposes  will  appear  of  suffi- 
cient dignity  to  have  a  place  in  a  divine  revelation 

*  List  of  Divine  formative  acts  in  both  chapters  before  the 
close  of  the  sixth  day. 

Chapter  I.  v.    1.  God  created  heaven  and  earth. 
"  v.    2.     "     imparted  motion. 

"  v.    3.     "     made  light. 

"          v.    4.    "    divided  light  from  darkness  (made 

day  and  night). 

".         v.    7.    "     made  the  "  firmament." 
"  v.    9.    "    made  the  dry  land  appear. 

"  v.  11.    "    made  the  earth  bring  forth  grasses, 

herbs  and  fruit-trees. 
"  v.  14.    "    made  the  seasons. 

"  v.  21.     "     made  the  fish  and  fowl. 

"  v.  25.    "     made  cattle,  beasts,  etc. 

"  v.  27.     "     made  man. 

Chapter  II.  v.    8.     "     made  the  garden. 

"  v.    9.     "     made   to  grow  all  trees   good   for 

food  and  pleasant  to  see. 
"  v.  19.     "     made  every  beast  of  the  field  and 

every  fowl  of  the  air. 
"  v.  22.     "     made  Woman. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   A   REVELATION.  3Y 

of  a  matter  so  great  as  the  creation  of  a  world, 
will  much  depend  upon  our  ideas  of  man's  place 
in  the  scale  of  being.  But  this  is  a  question  only 
as  to  the  good  sense  and  taste  of  the  Author,  and 
does  not  affect  the  truth  of  his  assertions. 

Nor  is  it  a  just  ground  of  objection  that  his 
statements  are  not  made  in  scientific  language 
and  with  scientific  exactness,  for  the  latter  is 
not  true,  as  I  shall  hereafter  show,  and  as  for  tne 
former,  the  laws  and  terminology  of  Astronomy, 
Geology  and  other  sciences  were  then  unknown. 
It  would  have  been  necessary  to  create  scientific 
UTIUS  for  this  special  purpose,  and  from  that  time 
to  the  present  century  they  would  have  been 
unintelligible. 

Is  it  indeed  certain  that  an  absolutely  correct 
terminology  would  even  now  be  understood  ? 
Has  all  knowledge  been  so  thoroughly  explored 
that  nothing  remains  to  be  added  to,  or  taken  from, 
the  present  laws  and  nomenclature  ?  Were  New- 
ton to  take  up  a  modern  Scientific  book,  he  would 
find  much  to  perplex  him,  old  terms  used  in  new 
senses,  and  new  ones  that  would  convey  no  mean- 
ing. Should  the  Scientist  of  to-day  revisit  the 
world  a  century  hence,  is  it  probable  that  his 
experience  would  differ  from  that  of  the  great 
English  Philosopher  ? 

Not  only  was  a  statement  of  phenomena  the 
only  method  of  imparting  information  on  these 


38  MOSAIC   ACCOUNT   OF    CREATION. 

"subjects  possible  under  the  circumstances,  but  it 
was  the  best  method  conceivable  under  any. 

The  value  of  an  accurate  statement,  photo- 
graphing, as  it  were,  the  phenomena  of  nature,  can 
never  be  fully  known  by  finite  minds.  Facts 
whose  scientific  value  has  apparently  been  ex- 
hausted, like  the  rejected  dross  of  ancient  mines, 
may,  in  the  crucible  of  modern  analysis,  prove 
rich  in  precious  metal.  Others  of  apparently  tri- 
fling importance  may,  under  different  subjective 
conditions,  be  "  the  very  article  of  a  standing  or 
falling"  theory. 

The  apparently  accidental  noting  of  a  star  one 
night  many  years  ago,  and  its  appearance  in  an- 
other position  a  few  nights  after,  a  change  at- 
tributed by  the  conscientious  astronomer  to  some 
error  of  eye  or  hand,  but  both  of  whose  places  he 
fortunately  put  upon  record,  with  an  interrogation 
marking  his  doubts  and  the  probably  valueless 
character  of  such  an  observation,  lay  dormant 
many  years.  Its  value,  had  he  suspected  it, 
would  have  been  more  to  him  than  all  the  labors 
of  his  life,  but  would  have  deprived  Le  Yerrier  of 
the  glory  of  his  discovery.  Not  till  the  world 
had  rung  with  the  wonder  of  that  marvel  of  ana- 
lysis, and  astronomers  had  set  to  work  to  discover 
whether  Le  Terrier's  calculated  elements  were 
true,  did  the  pregnant  meaning  of  that  "  trivial 
fact "  become  known.  It  might  have  revealed 


OBJECTIONS   TO   A    REVELATION.  39 

the  planet's  existence  years  before,  but  even  now 
it  ti xed  the  true  elements  of  its  path. 

Accurate  descriptions  of  phenomena  are  the 
meat  and  drink  for  which  every  student  of  nature 
hungers  and  thirsts.  It  is  solely  for  these,  that 
governments  fit  out  expeditions  to  observe  eclipses 
and  transits,  and  to  dredge  the  ocean  bottom. 

In  the  Mosaic  Narrative,  facts  are  related  in 
the  ordinary  language  of  life,  which  all  men  can 
understand,  and  it  is  no  proof  of  their  untruthful- 
ness  that  they  carry  to  each  reader  a  meaning 
larger  and  richer  in  proportion  to  his  knowledge 
ami  capacity.  On  the  contrary,  this  is  a  charac- 
teristic mark  of  any  truthful  statement  of  phe- 
nomena. 

It  is  easy  for  a  child  to  understand  that  the 
eclipses  of  Jupiter's  Moons  occur  sometimes  eight 
minutes  sooner,  and  sometimes  eight  minutes  later 
than  by  previous  calculation  they  ought,  a  fact  to 
him  curious  perhaps,  but  of  no  great  consequence. 
To  the  philosopher,  however,  that  fact  made 
known  the  velocity  of  light,  from  which  was  ob- 
tained the  measurement  of  its  waves,  on  which  is 
built  up  the  Science  of  Optics.  So,  too,  a  child 
can  understand  that  the  planet  Uranus  rises  some- 
times too  soon,  and  sometimes  too  late,  a  matter 
to  him  of  small  importance.  But  this  same  fact 
told  Le  Yerrier  of  a  planet  outside  of  Uranus. 

Such  simple  statements,  pregnant  with  truth, 
abound  in  this  account.  It  was  indeed,  "not 


40  MOSAIC    ACCOUNT   OF   CREATION. 

intended  to  teach  us  science,"  any  more  than  the 
apparent  irregularities  of  Jupiter's  .Moons  to  teach 
Optics,  or  the  perturbations  of  Uranus  to  teach 
Astronomy  ;  but,  if  true,  it  is  more  than  Science,  it 
is  the  material  of  which  Science  is  made. 

There  has  .grown  up  in  many  minds  the  belief 
that,  according  to  Moses,  the  world  and  its  con- 
tents were  formed  in  six  ordinary  days.  It  is  on 
this  supposed  statement  that  most  of  the  argu- 
ments against  the  truth  of  Genesis  have  been  based. 
It  has  been  assumed  that  such  was  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  Narrative,  and  then  shown  by  admitted 
Geological  evidence,  that  the  world  and  unnum- 
bered races  of  animals  and  vegetables  have  existed 
for  countless  ages;  and  that  a  process  of  slow 
development  has  been  going  on  for  millions  of 
years.  The  Bible,  we  are  told,  may  be  the  work 
of  man,  and  therefore  may  not  be  true,  but 
the  Geological  record  is  independent  of  man,  and 
therefore  cannot  be  false;  hence,  in  an  issue  of 
fact,  we  must  decide  against  the  former.  The  con- 
clusion is*  unavoidable  if  we  admit  the  premises. 

But  did  the  Author  intend  us  to  understand 
that  the  world  and  its  contents  were  created  in  six 
ordinary  days?  Or,  if  you  please,  did  he  say  or 
desire  us  to  believe  that,  from  "  the  beginning  " 
to  the  close  of  creation  only  one  hundred  and 
forty-four  hours  elapsed  ? 

I  answer  emphatically,  No. 

But  the  reasons  for  a  negative  answer  cannot 


OBJECTIONS   TO    A   REVELATION.  4:1 

well  be  given,  so  interwoven  are  they  with  the 
Narrative,  until  that  has  been  considered.  The 
reader  is  requested  therefore  to  wait  until  we  have 
gone  together  through  it,  when  the  duration  of 
the  Mosaic  Days  will  be  again  taken  up,  and,  as 
far  as  in  me  lies,  exhaustively  discussed.  I  hope 
then  to  show  that  the  literal  truth  of  this  Narra- 
tive harmonizes  perfectly  with  the  existence  of 
the  immeasurable  epochs  of  Geology. 

I  may,  however,  now  properly  call  attention  to 
the  remarkable  circumstance  that,  although  so 
much  has  been  said  and  written  on  the  assumption 
that  this  world  and  its  contents  were  made  ac- 
cording to  Genesis  in  six  days,  there  is  no  such 
statement  to  be  found  in  these  two  chapters.  If 
I  am  wrong,  it  will  be  easy  to  point  out  the  verse 
in  which  it  is.  I  am  unable  to  find  it. 

The  only  allusion  to  the  duration  of  the  crea- 
tion, is  in  the  fourth  verse  of  the  second  chapter, 
where  we  read  "  in  the  day  the  LORD  God  created 
the  heavens  and  the  earth  " — one  day,  not  six  days. 

Nor  is  it  said  that  any  creative  act  occurred 
on  any  of  the  days.  It  may  be  implied,  perhaps 
it  is,  but  certainly  it  is  not  so  said.  The  wording 
is  very  peculiar,  and  like  everything  else  in  these 
chapters  shows  design.  Remember,  the  question. 
is  not  what  we  think  or  infer  the  writer  intended 
to  say,  but  what  .did  he  actually  say  ?  On  this  I 
shall  have  more  to  offer  hereafter.  The  other  parts 
of  the  Bible  are  outside  of  our  present  discussion, 


42  MOSAIC   ACCOUNT   OF   CREATION. 

yet  as  showing  the  mode  of  speaking,  the  usus 
loqv^ndi,  I  add  that  although  the  wisdom,  good- 
ness, and  power  of  God  as  manifested  in  Creation 
are  often  alluded  to  in  other  parts  of  it,  yet  none  of 
its  many  writers  speak  of  its  brevity.  On  the  con- 
trary, there  seems  to  be  a  purpose  to  break  up  the 
ordinary  notions  of  time  as  applied  to  God's  works. 
We  are  told  "  a  thousand  years  are  as  one  day, 
and  one  day  as  a  thousand  years." 

I  have  not  forgotten  the  text  so  often  quoted 
to  prove  the  instantaneous  performance  of  God's 
commands,  but  I  can  see  in  it  only  obedience,  and 
no  reference  to  the  time  employed.  "  He  spake 
and  it  was  done."  Certainly  He  spake,  and  it  was 
done,  but  I  do  not  acknowledge  the  right  to  in- 
terpolate any  modifying  word,  even  though  that 
word  be  u  immediately."  Shall  we  never  have 
done  adding  our  beliefs  to  the  Word  ? 

"  Firmament,"  something  solid.  This  word 
offers  no  difficulty,  since  it  is  admitted  on  all  sides 
to  be  an  improper  rendering,  to  suit  the  Science 
of  Ptolemy's  day.  The  Translators,  unable  to 
comprehend  the  Science  of  the  Bible,  forced  it  to 
say  what  seemed  to  them  in  harmony  with  the 
laws  of  nature.  They  could  not  believe  in  a  mere 
expanse  or  open  space — it  was  contrary  to  all  their 
Science — and  therefore  they  translated  "  expanse  " 
by  "  a  firmament,"  something  solid  to  hold  up 
the  sky ! 

Having  disposed  of  the  objections  urged  against 


OBJECTIONS   TO    A   REVELATION.  43 

tliis  Narrative,  on  account  of  its  phenomenal  char- 
acter, and  the  absence  of  scientific  forms  and 
terms,  and  passing  by  for  the  present  the  supposed 
assertion  of  the  brevity  of  creation,  we  turn  now 
to  examine  the  Book. 

In  the  spirit  of  *a  student  anxious  only  to  dis- 
cover the  truth,  and  in  the  full  assurance  that  all 
truths  are  harmonious,  I  shall  seek  to  learn  what 
the  Narrative  says,  and  what  is  almost  equally 
important  in  maintaining  its  Divine  origin,  to 
point  out  certain  things  attributed  to  it,  but  which 
it  does  not  say.  At  present  I  shall  speak  almost 
wholly  of  the  latter. 

I  find  that  it  mentions  very  briefly,  in  a  certain 
order  of  occurrence,  some  of  the  most  important 
events  in  our  world's  history,  but  that  it  is  silent 
as  to  everything  else,  resembling  that  kind  of 
history  styled  Annals.  It  opens  with  a  statement 
of  God's  universal  creatorship.  It  then  commences 
a  series  of  details,  beginning  with  the  primordial 
condition  of  the  earth,  and  ending  with  the  Crea- 
tion of  Man.  Passing  this  by,  let  us  now  see 
what  it  does  not  say. 

It  says  nothing  as  to  the  previous  existence  or 
non-existence  of  older  orders  of  beings,  such  as 
the  animals  and  vegetables  of  the  Paleozoic  Age, 
nor  of  those  upheavals  and  depressions  which 
have  left  their  record  in  the  contorted  strata. 
As  to  the  latter,  there  can  be  no  difference  of 
opinion  ;  the  text  certainly  says  nothing  of  them. 


44  MOSAIC   ACCOUNT   OF   CREATION. 

But  as  to  those  plants  and  animals  of  previous 
ages,  which  we  now  know  were  extinct  when 
man  appeared,  Moses  does  not  speak,  for  he  makes 
mention  of  "grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit  trees/5 
They  did  not  exist  in  the  earlier  periods.  The 
peculiar  vegetation  which  marks  the  dawn  of 
organic  life,  shows  only  plants  of  the  lowest  orders, 
as  Algae,  Ferns,  etc. 

These  can  by  no  possible  classification  be  in- 
cluded among  the  plants  mentioned  above,  which, 
as  Geology  tells  us,  appeared  long  afterward,  long 
even  as  Geology  counts  time. 

So  too  in  regard  to  animal  life ;  for  ages  after 
ages,  were  found  in  all  the  vast  round  of  our  globe, 
in  the  ancient  waters  of  its  seas,  or  sporting  on 
their  shores,  only  mollusks,  radiates,  and  articu- 
lates. Not  a  vertebrate,  much  less  a  mammal, 
yet  lived.  Such  a  fauna  does  not  correspond  with 
that  described  as  "cattle,  creeping  things,  and 
beasts/'  The  latter  fauna  harmonizes  perfectly 
with  the  animals  of  to-day,  among  which  we  find 
not  merely  mammalia  preeminent,  but  also  an 
abundance  of  species  of  all  the  lower  orders. 
Moreover,  the  text,  with  its  usual  careful  wording 
says,  "  the  moving  creature  that  hath  life,"  and 
"  every  living  creature,"  i.  e.  not  the  extinct,  but 
the  present  living  species. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Account  gives  no 
ground  for  the  assertion  that  these  extinct  species 
came  into  existence  independently.  It  merely 
does  not  speak  of  them  at  all. 


OBJECTIONS   TO   A    REVELATION.  45 

The  Account  taken  thus  narrowly  and  literally 
harmonizes  with  the  facts  of  Geology.  It  is  only 
by  extending  it  beyond  its  own  words,  a  very  un- 
due liberty  as  it  seems  to  me,  that  we  find  a  diffi- 
culty in  the  fact  that  according"  to  the  fossils,  not 
one^of  the  "grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit  trees"  pre- 
ceded animal  life. 

Such  a  conflict,  however,  is  of  our  own  pro- 
duction, for  the  Account  carefully  limits  the  kinds 
of  plants  which  it  affirms  preceded  the  animals  of 
the  fifth  and  sixth  periods,  and  the  evidence  of 
the  fossils  corroborates  its  assertion. 

Although  it  may,  at  first,  appear  that  all  crea- 
tures living  during  the  fifth  and  sixth  periods, 
were,  according  to  Genesis,  formed  during  those 
periods,  yet  on  a  more  careful  examination  it  will  be 
found  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  text  to  forbid 
the  belief  (should  there  be  grounds  for  it)  that 
species  of  previous  creations  were  still  in  existence, 
nor  that  some  may  have  come  down  to  the  present 
day.  The  Account  neither  affirms  nor  denies.* 

*  I  leave  it  for  specialists  to  say  whether  life  of  any  kind 
passed  over  the  great  convulsions  that  marked  the  close  of 
the  Paleozoic  Age  or  survived  from  the  Mesozoic  into  the 
Cenozoic,  or  lived  through  the  cold  of  the  glaciers.  In  gen- 
eral, life  was  destroyed,  although  perhaps  some  Protozoans, 
and  possibly  a  mollusk  or  two,  may  have  escaped  through 
them  all.  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  fiving  species  is  iden- 
tical with  the  fossils  of  a  period  earlier  than  the  Eocene. 
"  Of  living  fishes,  reptiles,  birds,  and  mammals,"  none  can  be 
traced  back  as  far  as  the  Tertiary,  the  yesterday  of  Geology. 
"  All  tffe  fishes,  reptiles,  birds,  and  mammals  of  the  Tertiary 
are  extinct  species."  (Dana's  Manual,  p.  518.) 


4:6  MOSAIC   ACCOUNT   OF   CREATION. 

The  first  two  Chapters  of  Genesis  do  not  tell 
us  how  long  it  is  since  Adam  was  created,  whether 
it  is  6,000  or  6,000,000  years.  They  do  not  pro- 
fess to  give  any  information  about  it.  Whether 
we  can  justly  deduce  this  period  from  some  other 
portion  of  the  Bible,  is  not  a  question  that  con- 
cerns this  discussion.  If  every  word  of  that  Book 
save  the  Mosaic  Narrative  were  dropped  out  of 
existence,  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  latter 
would  not  be  affected.  It  merely  places  man's 
creation  upon  the  last  of  the  six  great  epochs,  as 
the  crowning  glory  of  the  whole. 

The  text  does  not  say,  that  no  species  of  plants 
or  animals  were  created  after  Adam  and  before 
the  "  rest  "  of  the  seventh  day.  On  the  contrary, 
it  appears  to  be  clearly  intimated  in  the  next  Chap- 
ter, that  "  all  kinds  of  trees  pleasant  to  the  sight 
and  good  for  food  "  were  made  after  the  creation  of 
man,  as  well  as  all  kinds  of  animals  for  him  to  name. 

In  conclusion. 

It  is  just  and  logical  when  examining  into  the 
truth  of  statements  contained  in  any  document, 
to  see  exactly  what  it  says,  and  consequently  it  is 
unjust  and  illogical  to  condemn  it  for  the  glosses 
and  explanations  that  may  have  gathered  about  it. 

The  Mosaic  Narrative  does  not  tell  us  the 
duration  of  the  process  of  creation,  except  so  far 
as  to  let  us  know  it  was  not  instantaneous,  since 
it  occupied  a  time  in  which  were  "  six  days  "  of 
completion  and  approval. 


OBJECTIONS   TO    A    REVELATION.  47 

It  does  not  affirm  that  each  act  was  instanta- 
neous, as  when,  e.  g.,  God  said,  "  Let  the  dry  land 
appear,"  that  at  once,  like  the  palaces  in  stories 
of  Eastern  Magic,  it  rose  from  the  bottom  of  the 
sea. 

It  does  not  say  how  much  or  how  little  time 
elapsed  between  the  events  mentioned,  as  from 
the  Creation  of  Light,  to  its  separation  from 
darkness. 

It  does  not  speak  of  the  creation  of  Algae, 
Ferns,  and  the  early  Flora. 

It  does  not  deny  the  existence  of  species  com- 
ing down  from  more  remote  epochs. 

It  does  not  deny  the  creation  of  plants  subse- 
quent to  the  third  day. 

It  does  not  deny  that  animal  life  began  long 
before  living  species  of  fishes,  fowl,  beasts,  creep- 
ing things,  and  cattle. 

It  does  not  deny  the  possibility  of  some  spe- 
cies having  survived  from  the  dawn  of  organic 
life. 

It  does  not  say  how  many  years  have  elapsed 
since  Adam's  creation. 

Of  most  of  these  matters,  it  says  nothing  at 
all.  Its  silence  on  any  question,  cannot  justly  be 
interpreted  as  affirming  or  denying.  Anything 
outside  of  its  own  words,  does  not  attach  respon- 
sibility to  it. 

The  fact  that  this  Account  is  not  clothed 
in  scientific  language,  is  not  only  no  argument 


4:8  MOSAIC)   ACCOUNT   OF    CREATION. 

against  its  truthfulness,  but  so  far  as  it  goes, 
decidedly  the  opposite,  since  a  "  phenomenal " 
statement,  a  series  of  "  logographs,"  *  is  immea- 
surably richer  in  meaning  and  more  fruitful  in 
results  than-  any  other  method  of  imparting  infor- 
mation of  which  we  can  conceive. 

If  these  conclusions  are  correct,  then  it  readily 
follows  that  any  argument  based  upon  the  oppo- 
site assumption  is  wholly  irrelevant. 

This  ruling  will  throw  out  of  Court  nearly  all 
the  testimony  brought  against  the  truth  of  this 
most  remarkable  document. 

*  "  Logograph,"  a  word  bearing  the  same  relation  to  a 
"  description  "  that  a  photograph  bears  to  a  pencil  sketch. 
No  word  in  our  language  conveys  the  intense  literalism  of 
this  Narrative 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   UNITY   OF   GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 
TESTIMONY  OF  NEW    WITNESSES. 

"  THERE  is  no  mode  of  establishing  the  validity  of  any 
belief  except  that  of  showing  its  entire  congruity  with 
other  beliefs."  —  HERBERT  SPENCER, 


VERY  one  that  has  watched  the  operation 
-J—  J  of  his  own  mind,  has  noticed  that  his  judg- 
ments are  affected  by  impressions  received  early 
in  life,  and  this  too,  in  spite  of  the  more  cor- 
rect information  of  later  years.  In  childhood, 
we  believed  all  the  heavenly  bodies  were  equally 
distant  from  us,  and  now,  notwithstanding  our 
present  knowledge,  how  many  of  us  can  see  that 
the  stars  are  ten  thousand  times  more  remote  than 
the  moon  ? 

When  we  have  repeatedly  read  of  events 
placed  in  close  proximity  upon  the  printed  page, 
we  are  very  apt  to  think  of  them  as  actually 
occurring  at  correspondingly  short  intervals.  Im- 
pressions thus  formed  influence  us  long  after  we 
have  learned  better.  It  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  get  rid  of  them  and  to  cultivate  a  sense  of  true 
8 


50  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

historical  perspective,  if  we  would  attain  any  cor- 
rect comprehension  of  the  past. 

Were  I  to  tell  a  child  that  Alexander,  Han- 
nibal, and  Caesar  are  the  greatest  generals  the 
world  has  seen,  he  would  think  of  them  as  liv- 
ing at  one  time.  If  he  is  logically  inclined,  he 
will  maintain  that  they  are  now  living,  or  that 
my  assertion  is  false,  for  did  I  not  say,  "  are  the 
greatest  generals  "  ? 

But  as  his  knowledge  of  language  increases,  he 
will  admit  that  my  statement  is  not  inconsistent 
with  the  fact  that  they  are  all  dead ;  and  as  his 
acquaintance  with  the  history  of  the  past  expands, 
so  will  their  respective  epochs  appear  to  separate, 
till  in  after  years  each  takes  his  proper  place  in 
the  long  line  of  events. 

In  writing  a  very  brief  epitome  of  history,  I 
might  say :  "  America  was  discovered  by  the 
Spaniards,  by  whom  the  most  of  South  America 
and  a  large  part  of  North  America  were  settled. 
The  English  made  settlements  at  Jamestown  and 
Plymouth.  The  colonists  made  war  on  the  mother 
country  and  obtained  their  independence.  They 
had  slaves  before  and  after  this,  which  resulted 
rn  another  war,  after  which  there  were  no  more 
slaves." 

In  this  little  narrative  there  are  between  the 
clauses  great  intervals  of  time,  in  which  many 
interesting  and  important  events  occurred.  Nor  is 
this  any  impugnment  of  its  truth.  It  makes  no 


THE   NEW   WITNESSES.  51 

pretence  of  telling  anything  mo?e  than  the  words 
say.  It  states  such  facts  in  the  order  of  their 
succession  as  seemed  to  the  writer  best  to  he 
recorded,  and  neither  affirms  nor  denies  anything 
in  regard  to  what  may,  or  may  not,  have  taken 
place  besides,  and  it  would  be  strange  logic  that 
should  infer  its  falsehood  from  such  silence. 

Such  is  exactly  the  character  of  the  Mosaic 
Narrative,  and  to  properly  understand  it,  one  must 
divest  himself  of  early  impressions  as  to  the  im- 
mediate and  rapid  succession  of  the  events  there' 
recorded,  at  least  so  far  as  to  leave  his  mind  un- 
biased by  their  juxtaposition  upon  the  page,  or 
by  previous  theories.* 

Those  who  have  either  cut  themselves  loose 
from  all  early  "  theological "  training,  or  who  never 
were  imbued  with  the  traditional  belief  in,  regard 
to  the  close  succession  of  events  mentioned  in  the 
Mosaic.- Account,  may  be  at  a  loss  to  understand 
the  difficulty  others  experience  in  stereoscoping 
the  past.  Reason  here  must  be  aided  by  a  posi- 
tive effort  of  will.  Perhaps  one  more  illustration 
may  aid  the  latter  in  the  attempt. 

Suppose  the  scenes  of  earth  ended,  and  that 
some  spirit  in  the  far-off  eternity  should  relate  to 
a  new-comer  the  story  of  our  world. 

He  might,  in  brief  phrase,  tell  of  creation  and 

*  For  an  exhaustive  examination  of  texts  succeeding 
each  other  without  notice  of  interval  of  time  where  we  know 
from  statements  elsewhere  there  was  such  interval,  see 
Genesis  and  Geology,  by  Denis  Crof ton,  B.  A. 


52  GENESIS    AND   SCIENCE. 

man's  trial  and  fall ;  of  the  Serpent  and  the  mys- 
terious promise,  "And  I  will  put  enmity  between 
thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and 
her  seed ;  it  shall  bruise  thy  head  and  thou  shalt 
bruise  his  heel/*  Then  he  might  add,  "and  it 
was  so,  the  Seed  of  the  Woman  did  bruise  the 
head  of  the  Serpent,  did  overcome  him,  and 
myriads  now  in  this  abode  are  the  trophies  of.  his 
victory." 

The  listener,  ignorant  of  the  thousands  of  years 
of  wretchedness  and  misery  while  the  Serpent 
seemed  triumphant,  might  most  naturally  infer 
that  the  triumph  followed  close  upon  the  declara- 
tion. But,  for  us,  it  is  easy  to  see  the  ages  that 
elapsed  between  the  promise  and  the  time  when 
it  could  be  said,  "  and  it  "jvas  so." 

The  history  of  creation  occupies  only  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis.  It  is  followed,  in  the  second 
chapter,  by  a  brief  summary  of  the  whole  work, 
and  a  more  special  account  of  the  occurrences  of 
the  sixth  period. 

I  propose  to  confine  myself,  at  least  for  the 
present,  to  the  first  and  apparently  more  systematic 
statement. 

Any  difficulties  outside  of  this  may  or  may 
not  prove  formidable,  but  their  discussion  has  no 
bearing  upon  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  this  narra- 
tive. 

The  Bible  abounds  in  the  rich  poetical  imagery 
of  the  East ;  but  this  first  chapter  is  the  most 


THE   NEW   WITNESSES.  53 

literal  prose,  a  record  of  hard,  dry  facts.  In  mathe- 
matics one  speaks  of  roots  and  powers,  in  natural 
history  one  reads  of  kingdoms,  classes,  and  orders, 
but  this  narrative  has  an  absolute  realism  that  is 
wonderful.  Such  at  least  it  appears  to  me,  and  as 
such  I  propose  to  treat  it  in  this  discussion. 

The  account  cf^ens  with  the  all-embracing 
declaration  :  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the 
heavens  and  the  earth." 

It  assumes  the  existence  of  a  First  Cause,*  whom 

*  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Scientists  who  have  prided 
themselves  upon  their  superiority  to  all  claims  of  supernatu- 
ral influences  and  revelation,  have  arrived  by  their  own  road 
at  the  first  verse  in  the  Bible.  Prof.  Tyndall,  in  the  open- 
ing Address  to  the  Hriti.xh  Association,  is  reported  to  have 
summed  up  in  the  following  words: 

"In  fact,  the  whole  process  of  evolution  is  the  manifesta- 
tion of  a  Power  absolutely  inscrutable  to  the  intellect  of  man. 
As  little  in  our  day  as  in  the  days  of  Job  can  man  by 
searching  find  this  Power  out.  .  .  .  There  is,  you  will 
observe,  no  very  rank  materialism  here." 

What  is  this  but  a  scientific  paraphrase  of  "God  created 
the  heaven  and  the  earth. "  The  inscrutability  of  this  Power 
was  as  well  known  to  Moses  and  to  Job  as  to  Prof.  Tyndall 
or  Mr.  Spencer. 

The  identity  of  the  two  propositions  is  the  more  striking 
when  it  is  remembered  that  Moses  wrote,  "  In  the  beginning 
Elohim  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth,"  and  Elohim 
means  "powers."  Would  the  modern  philosophers  have 
suffered  any  loss  if  they  had  taken  the  word  of  Moses  and 
Job,  that  it  was  an  Inscrutable  Power  that  "  evolved  "  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  ? 

For  the  further  consideration  of  this  word,  Elohim,  and 
the  personality  of  the  narrative,  see  Part  IL 


GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

it  styles  God,  an  assumption  which  it  does  not 
base  upon  any  argument,  but  appeals  to  each 
reader,  as  to  a  matter  within  the  view  of  his  own 
consciousness  as  absolutely  as  the  existence  of  the 
material  world.  There  I  leave  it,  only  adding  that 
matter,  or  mind,  or  both,  must  be  eternal,  and  that 
I  find  it  logically  easier  to  conceive  of  one  self- 
existent  and  eternal  Being  than  of  two  or  more.* 

There  is  at  this  day  prevalent  among  certain 
writers  a  peculiar  state  of  mind  characterized  by 
an  instinctive  aversion  to  the  use  of  the  word 
"  God,"  which  for  lack  of  a  better  name  may  be 
styled  Theophobia.  It  manifests  itself  in  the  use 
of  some  impersonal  word,  as  Law,  or  Force,  or  Evo- 
lution, or  Power,  or  u  Dynarnis,"  and  if  compelled 
to  use  the  name  of  Deity,  spells  it  "  god." 

Moses  has  no  such  theophobia.  He  delights 
to  place  the  name  of  God  in  the  front  of  every 
sentence. 

His  is  a  personal  God,  who  not  merely  enacts 
laws  for  the  universe,  but  executes  them — not 
merely  sets  the  machinery  in  motion,  but,  as  it 
were,  stands  by  and  notes  its  working,  and  as  his 
plans  develop,  pronounces  each  completed  stage  of 
progress  "good,"  and  when  he  has  crowned  all 

*  I  use  the  term  "  self-existent  "  for  lack  of  a  better. 
That  which  exists  without  a  beginning  is  existent,  not  self- 
existent,  since  the  latter  implies  self-causation,  i.  e.  self  ante- 
cedent to  itself  ! 

I  know  of  but  one  absolutely  logical  expression  for  such 
a  Being  :  "  I  Am."  "  '  I  Am  '  hath  sent  thee." 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  55 

with  the  creation  of  man,  styles  it  all  "very 
good." 

Science  cannot  go  back  to  the  opening  of  this 
chapter.  It  takes  cognizance  only  of  what  has 
occurred  since  that  "  beginning."  Yet  it  has  dis- 
covered many  indications  that  the  present  order  is 
not  eternal.  The  transmission  of  light,  the  retarda- 
tion, and  breaking  into  fragments  of  comets,  indi- 
cate an  interstellar  medium  which  is  slowly  bring- 
ing the  planets  to  rest.  The  friction  of  the  tidal 
wave,  given  time  enough,  will  stop  the  diurnal 
motion  of  the  earth.  The  sun  is  slowly  losing  its 
heat.  Now,  however  small  these  retarding  forces, 
or  however  small  the  loss  of  heat,  yet,  if  they  had 
operated  "  from  eternity,"  it  is  a  proposition  easily 
demonstrated  that  the  momentum  of  the  earth, 
and  the  heat  of  the  sun,  would  have  been  exhausted 
ages  ago. 

Science  then  clearly  demands  a  "  beginning." 
Starting  from  that,  many  wise  men  have  sought 
to  expound  the  mystery  of  the  universe,  or  at  least 
to  show  how  our  own  system  might  have  been 
developed  under  the  influence  of  forces  still  active. 

Assuming  the  existence  of  matter  and  motion 
as  the  result  of  attraction,  without  attempting  to 
account  for  either,  Laplace  some  fifty  years  ago 
proposed  the  well-known  Nebular  Hypothesis, 
which  by  its  accordance  with  the  facts  of  our  solar 
system,  has  passed  from  the  domain  of  theory, 
almost  if  not  wrholly  into  that  of  law — a  result 


56  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

which  has  been  confirmed  by  the  discoveries  made 
in  the  last  few  years  by  aid  of  the  spectroscope. 

The  central  fact  of  this  theory  is,  that  the 
solar  system,  and  of  course  the  earth  as  a  portion 
of  it,  in  its  primordial  condition,  was  a  shapeless, 
empty,  dark  collection  of  highly  attenuated  mat- 
ter, or  in  modern  technical  phrase,  a  nebulous  mass. 

Nearly  four  thousand  years  ago,  Moses,  giving 
an  account  of  our  earth,  describes  its  condition 
prior  to  the  commencement  of  motion,  in  language 
almost  identical.  He  says  "  the  earth  was  with- 
out form  and  void,  and  darkness  was  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep."  *  It  was  not  the  firm,  solid 
globe  which  we  now  regard  as  the  ideal  of  stabil- 
ity, but  a  something  mobile,  something  that  flows, 
"  waters  "  in  the  language  of  those  days,  a  "  fluid  " 
in  the  nicer  definition  of  the  present.f 

*  The  received  version  "  without  form  and  void/'  was  in 
the  main  acquiesced  in  until  the  exigences  of  certain  theo- 
ries required  a  modification  of  meaning.  (See  Lange,  Genesis, 
p.  163.)  After  a  careful  reading  of  the  argument  pro  and 
con,  I  still  adhere  to  the  old  version.  But  in  every  render- 
ing there  is  the  same  idea  of  organic  emptiness,  and  of 
matter  in  a  state  of  shapeless  disorder. 

Did,  however,  this  phrase  stand  alone,  I  should  not  found 
an  argument  upon  it,  but  the  evidence  is  cumulative.  It  is 
not  the  coincidence  of  one  or  two  expressions,  but  the  har- 
mony that  runs  through  the  whole  narrative. 

f  I  doubt  if  any  language,  until  a  comparatively  recent 
period,  could  express  the  nice  distinction  between  "fluid" 
and  "  waters/' 

Indeed,  the  Hebrew  word  is  radically  much  more  closely 
allied  to  "  fluid,"  being  derived  from  a  root  that  signifies 
"  to  flow." 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  57 

Is  it  possible  even  now,  to  describe  in  more 
appropriate  words,  the  nebulous  condition  before 
the  mass  was  vivified  with  motion  ?  "  Without 
form,"  shapeless,  empty,  dark,  not  solid,  but  flow- 
ing, a  waters,"  or  fluid. 

Of forces  we  know  nothing,  but  use  the  word 
as  a  convenient  name  for  that  which  causes  or 
opposes  motion.  Of  their  origin  Laplace's  theory 
takes  no  account,  nor  can  the  Science  of  to-day  do 
more  than  to  refer  it  to  the  same  First  Cause  as 
matter. 

And  in  this  conclusion,  Science  accords  with 
the  statement  in  Genesis  ;  God,  "  the  First  Cause," 
is  the  first  mover.  "  The  Spirit  of  God  moved 
upon  the  face  of  the  waters,"  i.  e.  the  fluid  mass. 

To  this  brief  assertion,  Science  can  add  no- 
thing. This  region  also  lies  beyond  its  domain. 

But  from  its  vast  store-house  of  facts  it  has 
drawn  this  generalization  which  corroborates  the 
idea  that  appears  to  underlie  these  first  two  verses, 
namely,  that  the  primordial  order  of  existence  is 
mind,  matter,  and  force,  and  that  matter,  modified 
by  force,  is  that  which  is  the  present  physical 
universe. 

"  Many  of  the  most  eminent  physicists  of  the 
present  time  see  in  the  cosmos,  besides  mind,  only 
two  essentially  distinct  beings  (sic),  namely,  mat- 
ter and  energy,  and  regard  all  matter  as  one,  and 
all  energy  as  one,  and  refer  the  qualities  of  sub- 
stances to  the  affections  of  the  one  substratum, 
3* 


58  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

modified  by  the  varying  play  of  forces."  (Page 
102,  New  Chemistry,  Prof.  Cooke.) 

Such  a  generalization  implies,  or  rather  re- 
quires that  matter  existed  before  the  application 
of  force  could  develop  anything,  and  that  there 
was  for  them  a  unity  of  origin.  This  corrobora- 
tion  is  the  more  interesting  from  the  utter  uncon- 
sciousness of  Science  that  it  exists. 

Prof.  Tayler  Lewis  says  the  primary  mean- 
ing of  the  word  translated  "  moved  upon,"  is  to 
flutter  (regular  pulsatile  motion),  and  the  verb 
being  in  the  Piel  conjugation  makes  the  inward 
sense  of  the  throbbing  more  intensive.  The 
reader  will  here  note  a  singular  harmony  with  the 
modern  scientific  belief  that  atomic  vibrations  lie 
close  to  the  foundations  of  all  the  forces  of  nature. 

Furnished  now  with  matter  which  has  been  en- 
dowed with  forces,  Science,  like  the  old  Geometer, 
can  move  the  world.  Thanks  to  the  newly  discov- 
ered law  of  the  correlation  of  forces,  philosophers 
can  now  tell  with  absolute  certainty  what  was  the 
first  visible  effect  that  followed  motion.  As  the 
telescope  carries  us  out  into  the  depths  of  space,  so 
this  last  and  grandest  generalization  takes  us  back 
into  eternity,  enables  us  to  note  the  very  founda- 
tions of  our  world,  to  trace  the  atoms  in  their  paths, 
and,  as  they  dash  together,  to  see  the  darkness  lit 
up  by  the  new-born  light.  It  tells  us  that  heat 
and  then  light  were  the  results  of  these  primordial 
movements.  The  hitherto  "  formless,  empty,  dark  " 


THE   NEW   WITNESSES.  59 

mass  became  self-luminous,  and  the  surrounding 
ether  joyously  trembling,  bore  in  eager  haste  the 
news  to  neighboring  systems  that  another  was 
added  to  their  number,  and  then,  "  the  morning 
stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God 
shouted  for  joy." 

Till  within  a  generation,  Science  in  her  wild- 
est dreams  could  not  have  told  us  this.  But 
Moses  put  upon  record,  nearly  four  thousand 
years  ago,  as  the  next  step  after  the  impartation 
of  motion  in  this  making  a  world,  "  God  said,  Let 
there  be  light,  and  there  was  light." 

Note  the  coincidence.  This  third  step  placed 
upon  record  so  many  thousand  years  ago,  is  pre- 
cisely that  called  for  by  the  Nebular  Hypothesis 
and  the  Correlation  of  Forces. 

According  to  Dr.  Adam  Clark,  the  word  ren- 
dered flight,"  signifies  not  light  only,  but  heat 
or  fire. 

This  identity  of  signification  is,  to  say  the 
least,  exceedingly  appropriate,  since  light  and 
heat,  as  we  now  know,  are  generically  one,  being 
merely  variations  in  the  ethereal  undulations,  a 
physical  fact  unknown  to  Dr.  Clark ! 

The  primary,  nebulous  condition,  "without 
form,  void  and  dark,"  was  utterly  unfit  for  human 
use,  not  a  condition  complete  in  itself,  but  prepar- 
atory for  something  higher.  Hence,  in  harmony 
with  the  Author's  dominant  idea  of  making  man 
the  central  object,  it  was  not  pronounced  "  good." 


60  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

But  as  light  was  perfect  in  itself,  ready  for  the  use 
of  the^  coining  man,  irrespective  of  the  state  of 
what  it  illuminated,  it  merited  and  received  the 
verdict  of  completion  and  approval.  "  And  God 
saw  that  it  was  good,"  finished  to  his  satisfaction. 
By  the  laws  of  dynamics  aided  by  a  know- 
ledge of  "  the  correlation  of  forces,"  we  now  know 
that  the  hot,  self-luminous,  nebulous  mass  of  our 
solar  system  (the  cosmos)  slowly  cooled,  and 
shrinking  centreward,  generated  a  gyratory  mo- 
tion. Revolving  with  increasing  velocity  as  the 
diameter  grew  less,  it  at  length  left  behind  it  neb- 
ulous rings,  which  themselves  cooling  and  shrink- 
ing, formed  the  planets.  Our  earth,  gathered  up 
from  an  annular  to  a  spheroidal  form,  was  at  first 
a  mass  of  incandescent,  self-luminous  vapor,  as  it 
were  a  comet,  revolving  about  the  central  body,  in 
a  planet's  orbit.  Further  condensation  arid  cool- 
ing made  it  a  ball  of  liquid  fire,  a  shoreless  ocean 
of  lava,  giving  out  light  upon  every  side.* 

*  "  And  what  a  surface !  For  land  and  water,  glowing 
rock  and  molten  lava.  Vast  seas  of  fire  tossed  by  furious 
gales  whose  breath  was  flame,  corruscated  with  a  thousand 
colors  as  their  condition  underwent  continual  change.  Then 
over  a  wide  extent  of  those  oceans  the  intense  lustre  would 
die  out,  to  be  replaced  by  a  dull,  almost  imperceptible  glow 
where  the  surface  of  the  fiery  ocean  was  changing  into  a 
crust  of  red-hot  rock.  But  then  came  fresh  disturbance.  The 
crust  broke  in  a  thousand  places,  showing  the  intensely  hot 
sea  beneath.  Fragments  of  red-hot  rock  many  miles  in  ex- 
tent were  tossed  hither  and  thither  by  the  raging  sea.  Nor 
were  these  the  only  evidences  of  an  intense  energy.  From 


THE   NEW   WITNESSES.  61 

Still  slowly  cooling  through  the  ages,  its  sur- 
face became  covered  with  a  solid  but  glowing  crust, 
and  when  this  had  so  far  fallen  in  temperature  as 
to  be  no  longer  luminous,  then,  for  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  our  globe,  the  hitherto  all-per- 
vading light  was  separated  from  the  darkness,  as 
now,  by  a  line  of  demarcation,  on  one  side  of 
which  opposite  the  sun  was  night  and  on  the  other 
day. 

"  And  God  called  the  light  Day,  and  the  dark- 
ness he  called  Night.  And  the  evening  and  the 
morning  were  one  day."  ("  One  day  "  in  the 
Hebrew.) 

This  marks  an  important  stage  of  progress  in 
our  world's  development,  indicating  the  complete 
transition  In  mi  the  gaseous,  self-luminous,  come- 
tary  condition,  to  the  solid,  opaque,  planetary 
body,  a  fact  that  was  evidently  well  known  to  the 
Author  of  Genesis,  for  in  his  brief  way  he  men- 
tions the  division  of  light  from  darkness,  the 
fact  which  of  all  others  characterized  it,  a  divi- 
sion heretofore  impossible.  "  And  God  divided 

time  to  time,  the  rush  of  the  hurricanes  which  raged  over 
the  molten  oceans,  was  hushed  into  comparative  stillness,  as 
volcanic  explosions  took  place.  Enormous  volumes  of  steam 
and  other  imprisoned  gases  were  flung  upward  with  irresist- 
ible force." 

This  vivid  picture,  from  Proctor's  Borderland  of  Science, 
although  an  imaginary  description  of  Saturn,  is  a  true  de- 
scription of  our  earth's  condition  after  it  had  condensed  to  a 
liquid  and  had  begun  to  form  a  crust,  but  was  yet  self -lumi- 
nous. 


62  GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 

between  the  light  and  the  darkness."  Up  to  that 
time,  in  reference  to  our  planet,  light  had  been 
everywhere,  and  there  would  have  been  no  more 
propriety  in  speaking  of  such  a  division  than  there 
would  be  now  in  case  of  the  Sun. 

Could  any  man,  in  the  light  of  the  present 
knowledge,  select  more  accurately,  or  depict  more 
graphically,  the  characteristic  fact  which  indicates 
the  close  of  our  world's  intensely  hot  and  self-lumi- 
nous existence  ? 

Note,  too,  the  thorough  mastery  of  his  sub- 
ject, incidentally,  as  it  were,  shown  by  the  Author 
when  he  calls  "day,"  not  the  light  in  general,  but 
light  after  this  division.  It  was  not  the  darkness 
which  was  upon  the  "  deep  "  prior  to  motion,  but 
darkness  which  had  been  separated  from  the  light, 
that  he  called  Night,  i.  e.  it  was  after  the  earth 
began  by  alternations  of  light  and  darkness  to 
measure  time. 

In  these  two  verses  (4,  5)  is  comprehended  all 
that  the  Author  has  seen  fit  to  tell  us  of  our 
world's  self-luminous  existence.  The  announce- 
ment of  the  emission  of  light,  "  And  there  was 
light,"  marks  the  earliest  visible  effect  of  Cosmic 
vivification  by  the  impartation  of  motion,  the  com- 
mencement of  that  period  of  intense  heat,  and  uni- 
versal luminosity,  as  the  words  "God  divided  the 
light  from  the  darkness,"  mark  its  close.  Between 
these  verses  is  all  the  long  time  from  a  first  moved 
cosmic  mass,  to  a  solar  system  with  its  arrange- 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  63 

ment  of  Sun,  planets,  and  satellites,  to  our  earth 
a  solid  non-luminous  sphere  !  So  vast  an  interval, 
so  transcending  the  power  of  the  human  intellect 
to  measure,  which  no  Calculus  can  compute,  be- 
wilders us,  and  we  draw  back  exhausted  as  from 
the  contemplation  of  duration  without  limit. 

Such  vast  real  intervals,  where  there  is  apparent 
juxtaposition,  are  most  common  in  the  record  writ- 
ten in  the  sky.  Stars  seem  to  us  almost  to  touch 
each  other,  whose  real  distance  apart  is  unmeasured, 
and  as  yet  immeasurable.  In  an  infinitely  smaller 
way,  writers  and  speakers  often  link  into  one  nar- 
rative, or  even  one  sentence,  events  separated  by 
vast  intervals  of  time.  If  one  were  to  say,  "  Ital- 
ian Tribes  founded  a  city,  which  Gothic  Robbers 
destroyed,"  the  statement  would  be  equally  true 
whether  we  recognized  the  many  centuries  that 
intervened,  or  in  our  ignorance,  thought  that  the 
last  event  followed  close  upon  the  first.  And 
when,  our  knowledge  of  history  having  increased, 
we  learned  how  far  apart  they  really  were,  it 
would  be  strange  logic  that  should  therefore  deny 
the  truth  of  the  original  statement. 

Important  as  was  this  stage  to  which  our  world 
had  now  attained,  it  was  a  condition  of  transi- 
tion, not  of  completion.  Although  no  longer  hot 
enough  to  give  light,  yet  for  a  long  period  its 
high  temperature  permitted  no  water  to  remain 
upon  it.  The  Oceans  existed  at  first  as  super- 
heated, transparent  vapor.  But  as  the  surface 


64:  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

heat  grew  more  moderate,  the  invisible  vapor  be- 
came dense  masses  of  mist  enveloping  the  world 
"  in  clouds  like  a  garment,"  and  making  "  thick 
darkness  a  swaddling  band  for  it."  This  mist,  or 
cloud,  must  have  been  of  vast  extent.  If  we  sup- 
pose one  cubic  inch  of  water  to  form  one  cubic 
foot  of  vapor,  and  the  ocean  sufficient  to  cover  the 
earth  to  the  depth  of  two  and  a  half  miles,  the 
"  clouds  "  must  have  been  nearly  two  thousand  five 
hundred  miles  in  thickness,  causing  a  "darkness" 
more  intense  than  the  darkest  night  imaginable.* 

*  The  Bible  student  will  note  this  as  one  of  the  many 
instances  in  which  Science  casts  a  flood  of  light  on  passages 
otherwise  incomprehensible.  What  more  beautiful  and  true 
description  can  be  given  of  that  condition  of  our  earth  which 
we  have  been  been  considering,  than  the  one  in  Job,  xxxviii. 
9  ?  These  dense  masses  of  clouds !  how  they  must  have 
poured  down  the  water  as  they  passed  more  and  more  com- 
pletely from  invisible  vapor  to  clouds  and  mists  ! 

"  Or  who  shut  up  the  seas  with  doors,  when  it  brake  forth, 
as  if  it  had  issued  out  of  the  womb  ? 

"  When  I  made  the  cloud  the  garment  thereof,  and  thick 
darkness  a  swaddling  band  for  it." 

Think  of  the  intense,  all-pervading  darkness  caused  by 
such  clouds  ;  making  "  the  cloud  the  garment  thereof,  and 
thick  darkness  a  swaddling  band  for  it !  " 

"  A  swaddling  band,"  not  an  irregular,  shapeless  mass  of 
clouds,  but  "bands"  wrapping  it  around,  as  to-day  clouds 
wrap  around  Jupiter  and  Saturn. 

Their  waters  are  still  in  their  atmosphere,  but  mostly,  as 
I  take  it,  yet  in  the  form  of  invisible  superheated  steam. 
Their  ground  is  still  hot  enough  to  glow.  Their  clouds  (of 
whatever  material)  are  yet  in  "  bands  "  about  them. 

Such  in  an  earlier  epoch  was  the  condition  of  our  planet, 
and  such,  as  far  as  the  bands,  it  continued  after  it  passed  into 


THE   NEW   WITNESSES.  65 

Further  ages  of  cooling  reduced  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  vapor  until,  at  length,  the  water  began 
to  descend  in  torrents,  to  be  again  and  again  thrown 
back  in  clouds  of  steam  by  the  hot  crust.  In  due 
time  the  conflict  ceased.  The  primeval  storms 
and  tempests  abated  ;  the  air  became  clear.  The 
waters  covered  the  earth  ;  above  them  a  transpa- 
rent open  space,  and  yet  above  that,  clouds.  This 
open  space  marks  the  close  of  another  important 
stage  in  the  progress  of  the  world  toward  inhabit- 
ability.  It  indicates  the  close  of  the  supremacy 
of  purely  igneous  action,  and  the  beginning  of  the 
period  in  which  aqueous  action  was  henceforth  to 
be  dominant. 

The  Author  of  Genesis  must  have  known  of 
this,  or  lie  would  not  have  given  us  in  this  series 
of  word  pictures,  as  representing  the  next  great 
stage  of  progressive  development,  an  open  space 
which  separates  the  rolling  ocean,  "the  waters 
below,"  from  the  clouds  yet  suspended  high  in  air,  a 
space  so  clear  that  one  could  see  in  the  blue  expanse 
the  glories  of  the  heavens.  These  are  his  words : 
"And  God  made  an  open  space  (not  crepe^a,  nor 
firmament,  something  solid,  as  translated  by  Scien- 
tists of  Ptolemy's  time !),  and  divided  the  waters 
that  were  under  it  from  those  above  it." 

the  condition  of  lower  temperature  when  water  became  visi- 
ble mist.  Even  now,  were  our  earth  free  from  inequalities 
upon  its  surface,  its  clouds  would  retain  their  band  form. 
Land  and  water,  mountains  and  valleys,  destroy  all  regularity 
of  cloud- form. 


66  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

And  this  "open  space  God  called  heaven" 
Why  ?  Because,  as  we  now  know,  it  was  only 
after  the  deposition  of  the  water  that  the  stars 
were  visible  on  our  globe.  During  its  earlier 
stage,  when  itself  luminous,  the  fainter  light  of 
the  stars  was  either  lost  in  the  earth's  own  efful- 
gence or  quenched  in  the  vapors  that  loaded  its 
atmosphere.  During  the  non-luminous  condition, 
their  light  was  intercepted  by  the  dense  clouds. 
Hence  when  there  came  the  open  clear  expanse, 
it  revealed  for  the  first  time  the  glories  of  the 
night,  and  seemed  as  now  to  reach  the  stars.  In- 
deed, if  one  wishes  to  be  very  exact,  he  may  justly 
say,  the  open  space  which  separates  the  waters  is 
the  same  space  which  continues  beyond  the  clouds, 
to  the  heavens,  to  the  stars  themselves,  an  inter- 
pretation that,  to  say  the  least,  is  not  opposed  by 
the  fact  that  the  word  rendered  "  heaven  "  is  dual 
in  form. 

This  clearing  the  atmosphere,  science  tells  us, 
was  a  very  important  stage  of  progress ;  indeed, 
absolutely  essential  to  the  subsequent  develop- 
ment. That  the  Author  appreciated  its  impor- 
tance is  evident,  since  he  devotes  a  "  day  "  to  it. 
But  he  does  not  pronounce  it  "  good." 

Why  this  omission  ?  Certainly  the  work  was 
of  inconceivable  importance,  absolutely  essential 
before  life  could  exist,  and  there  is  nothing  done 
by  the  Divine  Architect  that  is  not  well  done. 

I  think  it  is  manifest  on  a  careful  study  of 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  67 

this  Chapter  that  in  every  case  where  it  is  said 
"  God  saw  it  was  good,"  perfection  is  indicated, 
i.  e.  not  excellence  only,  but  completion — "  good  " 
for  the  use  to  which  it  was  to  be  put, — "good" 
for  men. 

For  some  cause,  the  atmosphere,  the  clear,  open 
expanse,  although  freed  from  the  excess  of  water, 
was  not  pronounced  finished  for  the  use  of  the 
coming  man. 

The  records  of  Geology  offer  an  explanation. 
There  we  find  abundant  and  convincing  evidence 
that  the  purification  of  the  atmosphere  was  not 
completed  until  unnumbered  centuries  after  the 
lu -inning  of  the  upheaval  of  the  dryland.  At 
least  through  the  Paleozoic  epochs  (a  duration  we 
cannot  measure),  the  air  was  loaded  with  carbonic 
acid  and  probably  with  many  other  impurities. 

Had  the  Author  represented  the  purification 
of  the  air,  not  as  having  reference  merely  to  the 
deposition  of  the  water,  but  as  continuing  until 
he  was  able  to  pronounce  it  "  good,"  i.  e.  fit  for 
man,  he  would  have  materially  injured  the  sharp 
chronological  order  which  is  one  of  the  most 
characteristic  features  of  the  Narrative,  since  this 
would  have  carried  the  "second  day"  so  down 
into  the  history  of  the  globe  as  to  have  lapped  far 
on  the  emergence  of  the  dry  land,  the  work  of  the 
next  great  epoch. 

How  long  the  world  remained  enveloped  in  a 
shoreless  ocean  there  are  no  data  on  which  we  can 


68  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

found  an  estimate.  It  must  have  been  a  time  of 
turmoil,  of  great  volcanic  upheavals,  of  "terrific 
earthquakes.  It  must  have  been  long,  for  during 
its  continuance  the  primeval  crust  was  broken  and 
ground  up,  forming  in  part  the  materials  of  the 
Azoic  sedimentary  rocks,  as  is  apparent  from  their 
immense  thickness. 

In  the  fulness  of  time,  the  continents  began  to 
be  upheaved,  showing  in  their  earliest  manifesta- 
tions lines  of  structure  which  clearly  indicated 
their  present  form,  bearing  no  marks  of  chance 
upheaval,  but  showing  a  plan  worked  out  through 
the  Geological  epochs,  and  attaining  their  full 
completion,  after  countless  centuries,  towards  the 
close  of  the  Tertiary. 

In  this  Age  (Dana,  p.  580),  "  there  was  the  fin- 
ishing of  the  rocky  substratum  of  the  Continents  ; 
the  expansion  of  the  continental  areas  to  their  full 
limits,  or  their  essentially  permanent  recovery  from 
the  waters  of  the  ocean  ;  the  elevation  of  many  of 
the  great  mountains  of  the  globe,  or  a  considera- 
ble portion  of  them,  through  a  large  part  of  their 
height,  as  the  Alps,  Pyrenees,  Apennines,  Hima- 
layas, Andes,  Rocky  Mountains,  the  loftiest  chains 
of  the  globe, — a  result  not  finally  completed  until 
the  close  of  the  Tertiary." 

Geology,  then,  tells  us  that  at  the  close  of  this 
epoch,  the  arrangement  of  the  land  was  completed, 
-and  the  profoundest  students  of  Physical  Geogra- 
phy unite  in  pronouncing  it  "good." 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  69 

In  perfect  accord  with  this,  the  Author  places 
in  an  epoch  subsequent  to  the  deposition  of  the 
waters,  the  appearance  and  the  completion  of  the 
dry  land,  and  adds,  "  God  saw  it  was  good."  He 
gives  no  intimation  of  the  interval  of  time  be- 
t  ween,  but  Geology  so  far  supplies  the  omission 
as  to  assure  us  of  its  surpassingly  long  duration. 

It  may  be  replied  that  in  all  this  there  is  no- 
thing remarkable,  as  of  course  the  elevation  of  the 
land  above  the  water  could  not  have  preceded  its 
deposition.  \\t  I  note  three  things  that  did  not 
"  follow  of  course." 

First,  The  land  might  have  assumed  its  present 
elevation  before  the  water  fell,  leaving  the  latter, 
when  the  time  for  falling  came,  simply  to  fill  the 
already  existing  valleys  to  their  present  depth. 
But  the  words,  "Let  the  waters  be  gathered  into 
one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear,"  are 
utterly  inconsistent  with  any  such  previous  condi- 
tion, and  are  equally  in  Imniumy  with  all  the 
Geological  facts  of  the  world's  history. 

.  Second,  It  was  the  belief  of-  the  ancients  that 
the  world  was  mostly  land,  and  the  water  compara- 
tively small  bodies  in  a  great  degree  isolated  from 
each  other.  It  did  not  "  follow  of  -course  "  that 
the  waters  were  gathered  into  one  place.  Yet  such 
is  the  fact,  as  Geography  tells  us. 

Third,  The  excellence  of  the  arrangement  of 
land  and  water  does  not  "  follow  of  course."  The 
ancients  had  a  horror  of  the  sea,  and  it  is  only 


70  GENESIS    AND   SCIENCE. 

since  a  comparatively  recent  date  that  Scientists 
have  found  that  land  and  sea  have  been  placed 
and  proportioned  with  surpassing  wisdom. 

The  Author  of  Genesis  pronounced  it  "  good," 
and  now  all  science  confirms  the  verdict.* 

I  cannot  leave  this  portion  of  the  account 
without  calling  the  reader's  attention  to  its  pecu- 
liar wording.  "  Let  the  dry  land  appear,"  or  if  it 
is  closer  to  the  original,  let  it  be  written  as  a  fu- 
ture (since  the  Hebrew  obtains  its  first  and  third 
persons  of  the  imperative  by  the  use  of  a  simple 
future).  "  The  dry  land  shall  appear."  Such  an 
expression  would  be  marvelously  in  harmony  with 
the  fact  that  the  land  had  risen  close  to  the  surface 

*  It  will  aid  in  appreciating  the  wonderful  wisdom  of  the 
Author  of  this  Narrative  to  compare  his  statements  with 
those  of  a  much  later  Hebrew  Author. 

In  II.  Esdras,  chap.  v.  42,  in  the  course  of  an  account  of 
Creation  borrowed  from  that  in  Genesis,  the  writer,  not  sat- 
isfied with  the  Science  of  that  book,  attempts,  like  the  trans- 
lators of  the  Septuagint,  to  improve  it  by  the  aid  of  the 
improved  Science  of  his  own  day.  He  says,  "  Upon  the  third 
day  thou  didst  command  that  the  waters  should  be  gathered 
in  the  seventh  part  of  the  earth  ;  six  parts  hast  thou  dried 
up,  .  .  .  the  seventh  part  where  the  waters  were  gath- 
ered." 

This  is  far  from  being  the  only  instance  of  the  danger 
of  adding  improvements  to  the  story  of  the  Hebrew  Pro- 
phet. 

Such  blundering  was  most  natural  to  one  whose  know- 
ledge was  limited  to  the  waters  bordering  on  Judea.  His 
statement  contrasts  most  sharply  with  the  brief  but  photo- 
graphically true  account  of  Moses. 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  71 

of  the  water,  all  shaped  and  planned,  and  only 
waited  the  permission  to  rise  through  the  shallow 
covering  of  water  to  the  air.  "  Let  the  dry  land 
appear."  It  is  all  ready,  let  it  come  forth. 

What,  then,  is  the  fact  as  revealed  by  Geolo- 
gists ? 

That  at  the  beginning  of  Geology,  the  conti- 
nents were  formed  as  immense  submarine  plateaux, 
lying  a  very  short  distance  beneath  the  surface. 
The  grand  structure-lines  of  the  continents  were 
early  formed  and  "  the  system  thus  initiated  was 
the  system  to  the  end."  (Dana,  Manual,  p.  160.) 

There  is  something  marvelous  in  the  sharp 
antithesis  of  the  Mosaic  account,  "  Let  the  waters 
be  gathered  unto  one  place,"  and  the  immense 
inland  seas  of  the  earlier  Geologic  Epochs,  an  an- 
tithesis that  finds  its  counterpart  in  the  actual 
contrast  of  those  periods  and  of  to-day. 

The  then  condition  of  our  earth  resembled  that 
exhibited  now  upon  the  planet  Mars  according  to 
the  latest  maps,  on  which  are  seen  large  bodies  of 
water  shut  off  from  all  others,  and  with  long, 
narrow  arms  running  far  inland. 

Sir  K.  Murchison  tells  us  that  "  Russia  in 
Europe  is  one  huge  depository  basin,"  ..."  there 
existed  an  inland  sea  of  brackish  water  exceeding 
in  size  the  present  Mediterranean,  of  which  the 
present  Caspian  is  the  diminished  relic."  This 
inland  sea,  he  says,  was  entirely  separated  from  the 
Western  Ocean  of  that  period. 


72  GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 9 

Vast  shallow  inland  seas,  at  times  connected 
with  other  bodies,  and  at  other  times  entirely  cut 
off,  were  numerous  in  the  period  preceding  the 
middle  Tertiary,  and  to  some  extent  till  towards 
its  close. 

The  reader  will  note  that  this  is  the  Geological 
epoch  of  the  completion  of  the  continents,  and  of 
the  appearance  of  "  grasses,  herbs,  and  trees  bear- 
ing fruit  whose  seed  is  in  itself,"  and  that  it  im- 
mediately precedes  the  period  of  the  Glaciers,  that 
period  which  draws  a  strong  line  of  demarcation 
between  the  ancient  type  of  climate  and  the 
modern. 

The  Mosaic  Narrative  now  deals  with  organic 
forms,  and  first  with  vegetation. 

Let  us  see  what  is  known  from  the  record  of 
the  rocks. 

There  we  read  that  prior  to  the  completion  of 
.the  Continents  there  were  immeasurable  periods 
of  ancient  life  forms,  the  strange  old  shapes  of  the 
Paleozoic  Age,  the  less  strange  of  the  Mesozoic, 
and  the  more  modern  of  the  Cenozoic. 

Vegetation,  commencing  with  the  lowest  and 
simplest  organization,  the  Algse,  advanced  in  the 
Devonian  to  a  flora  which  presented,  with  Lyco- 
podiums,  Ferns,  and  Equisetae,  various  cone-bear- 
ing plants,  representing  the  large  but  inferior 
class  styled  from  their  naked  seeds  Gynmosperms. 
In  the  Carboniferous  period  came  a  rank  and 
abundant  growth,  whose  remains  have  given  us 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  73 

our  stores  of  coal.  Here,  in  addition,  was  found 
yet  another  great  order,  the  Cycads,  also  belong- 
ing to  the  Gymnosperms. 

As  yet  there  were  no  Grasses,  no  Palms,  no 
Angiosperms,  the  last  and  highest  development. 
What  is  an  Angiosperm  ?  It  is  an  Exogenous 
plant  whose  seed  is  covered,  as  the  apple,  rose, 
plum,  etc.,  a  plant  whose  seed  is  inside  of  the  fruit. 

Mesozoic  plant-life,  till  far  down  and  into  the 
Cretaceous,  presents  the  same  characteristics. 

There  was  an  abundant  flora,  but  no  Palms, 
no  Angiosperms,  and  most  probably  no  Grasses. 
In  the  Cretaceous,  the  chalk  period,  suddenly  and 
abruptly,  vegetation  begins  to  assume  a  more 
modern  character.  Grasses,  Palms,  and  Angio- 
sperms begin  to  appear,  not  dominant,  but  a  pro- 
mise of  the  future,  "for  this  was  properly  the 
closing  part  of  the  era  of  the  Cycads."  * 

In  the  Cenozoic  there  was  an  increase  of  those 
higher  orders  until  they  attained  their  present 
preponderance  in  the  Tertiary.  Here  are  found 
Plums,  Almonds,  Roses,  Acacias,  Whortleberries, 
Palms,  Grasses,  etc. 

Hence,  as  to  vegetable  life,  the  culmination  was 
attained  in  the  Tertiary,  since  no  higher  develop- 
ment has  since  been  made;  there  is  no  higher 
type  than  Palms  and  Angiosperms. 

Is  it  possible  to  find  a  definition  that  shall 
include  these  heads  of  the  great  divisions,  the  exo- 

*  Dana,  Manual,  1874,  p.  471. 
4 


74  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

genous  and  the  endogenous  ?  I  can  think  of  none 
more  perfect  than,  "the  tree  yielding  fruit  whose 
seed  is  in  itself."  * 

This  evidently  is  the  kind  of  vegetation  of 
which  Moses  wrote,  "  And  the  earth  brought  forth 
grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed,  and  the  tree  yielding 
fruit  the  seed  of  which  is  in  itself."  As  in  these 
the  vegetable  world  culminated,  the  Author  pro- 
nounces them  "  good,"  i.  e.  fitted  for  the  sustenta- 
tion  of  Man  and  the  Class  of  animals  most  aifect- 
ing  his  interests. 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  read  thoughtfully  this 
account  and  not  wonder  why  two  such  diverse 
and  yet  so  important  acts  as  the  appearing  of  the 
dry  land  and  the  completion  of  vegetable  develop- 
ment, should  be  included  in  one  epoch. 

*  "  Tree  yielding  fruit  whose  seed  is  in  it." 
Dana  (p.  708)  considers  this  the  philosophical  character- 
istic of  vegetation  distinguishing  it  from  inorganic  sub- 
stances. This  is  true  without  doubt,  but  no  more  true  for 
vegetation  than  for  animal  life.  Nor  does  that  idea  add  any- 
thing to  the  force  of  "grasses,  herbs  and  fruit  trees."  But 
if,  by  "  tree  yielding  fruit  the  peed  of  which  is  in  it,"  is 
meant  what  it  plainly  says,  that  the  seed  of  these  trees  was 
covered,  i.  e.  was  inside  of  the  fruit,  thus  distinguishing 
them  not  only  from  the  cotemporaneous  herbs  yielding  seed 
as  well  as  from  the  inferior  but  preexistent  orders  whose 
seed  was  not  in  the  fruit  but  naked,  then  there  is  shown  a 
deep  and  broad  undercurrent  of  knowledge,  that  on  the  one 
hand  takes  in  the  Geological  ante-human  periods,  their 
beginnings  and  culminations,  and  on  the  other,  the  profound 
analysis  of  Modern  Botanical  Science,  which  has  told  us  of 
the  structural  and  useful  peculiarities  of  the  great  modern 
division  of  the  Angiosperms. 


THE  NEW   WITNESSES.  75 

If  the  purpose  of  dividing  the  narrative  into 
just  six  epochs  made  it  necessary  to  crowd  two 
events  into  one  division,  it  would  seem  every  way 
more  natural  to  place  together  the  deposition  of 
the  waters  and  the  appearance  of  the  dry  land. 

The  discoveries  of  Geology  already  discussed, 
give  an  answer  which  if  it  stood  alone  would  attest 
the  Divine  origin  of  this  Account.  From  them  we 
learn,  not  only  that  the  completion  of  the  conti- 
nents, i.  e.  the  time  of  receiving  the  Divine  appro- 
bation as  "  good,"  was  an  immeasurable  distance 
subsequent  to  the  deposition  of  the  waters,  the 
two  being  almost  at  the  extremes  of  Geologic 
record,  but  that  vegetable  life  which  began  soon 
after  the  beginning  of  the  emergence  of  the  conti- 
nents, was  developed  along  with  them,  and  both 
reached  their  culmination  in  the  SAME  Geologic 
Epoch,  in  the  Pliocene,  the  close  of  the  Tertiary ! 

How  little  called  for  has  been  the  fear  of  this 
most  faithful  Witness. 

Another  very  reasonable  inquiry  is,  why  does 
the  writer  speak  of  "grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit 
trees "  and  remain  silent  as  to  the  previous  and 
much  more  extended  domain  of  Algae,  Ferns,  Cy- 
cads,  etc.  ? 

Three  answers  suggest  themselves. 

First,  because  the  vegetable  world  culminated 
in  these.  Second,  because  they  are  most  useful 
for  man  and  cattle.  The  third  reason,  not  appa- 
rent upon  the  face  of  the  narrative,  but  perhaps. 


76  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

in  reference  to  God's  purpose  of  authenticating  a 
Revelation,  of  far  greater  weight  in  his  mind,  was 
because  this  vegetation  marks  the  close  of  the 
ancient  type  of  climate  which  was  distinguished 
for  its  monotonous  uniformity.*  It  thus  estab- 
lished a  BIOLOGICAL  DATE,  subsequent  to  which 
began  the  modern  type  of  climate  characterized 
by  changing  seasons,  and  consequently,  unequal 
days  and  nights. 

Till  well  down  to  this  time  of  "  fruit  trees  " 
the  Geological  record  assures  us  that  the  same 
plants  and  animals  flourished  luxuriantly  from 
well  toward  the  equator  to  latitude  78°  at  least. 
And  as  light  is  one  of  the  most  vital  needs  of 
plants,  we  are  compelled  to  believe,  if  there  be 
any  truth  in  the  doctrine  of  Uniformity  of  Law, 
that  a  somewhat  equal  arrangement  of  light  and 
darkness  prevailed  at  that  time  in  the  higher 
and  lower  latitudes,  and  that  therefore  the  polar 
regions  could  not  have  then  had  days  of  six 
months  duration,  alternating  with  nights  of  equal 
length. 

If  this  be  so,  then  as  a  necessary  consequence 
there  could  not  have  been  the  present  alternation 
of  seasons,  and  the  cause  of  this  alternation  did 

*  Dana,  Manual  (1874)  p.  352.  "  The  temperature  of  the 
Arctic  Zone  differed  but  little  from  that  of  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica. Through  the  whole  hemisphere — we  might  say  world 
— there  was  a  genial  atmosphere  "  (Close  of  the  Carbonife- 
rous Age)  "  for  one  uniform  type  of  vegetation  and  genial 
waters  for  Corals  and  Brachiopods." 


THE   NEW   WITNESSES.  77 

• 

not  then  exist.  Ergo,  the  axis  of  the  earth  did 
not  then  have  its  present  inclination,  but  must 
have  been  nearly  perpendicular  to  its  orbit. 

After  "  fruit  trees "  came,  according  to  the 
record  of  the  rocks,  the  Glacial  Epoch,  and  at  the 
earliest  subsequent  period  of  which  anything  is 
known,  are  found  days  and  nights  of  unequal 
length  and  changing  seasons.  Hence  during  that 
epoch  the  axis  of  the  earth  must  have  attained  its 
present  inclination  of  23|°.* 

Such  a  change  of  obliquity,  causing  seasons  and 
une<|iml  days  and  nights,  and  affording  a  simple 
and  natural  measurement  of  the  year,  and  signs 
for  the  arrangement  of  the  Jewish  religious  fes- 
tivuls,  exactly  harmonizes  with  the  Mosaic  Ac- 
count. 

"  And  God  said,  Let  the  lights  in  the  firma- 
ment (open  space)  of  heaven,  be  to  divide  the  day 
from  the  night,"  [the  margin  says  "  to  divide  be- 
tween the  day  and  between  the  night,  i.  e.  to 
divide  the  time  between  them,  giving  to  each  its 
due  but  ever-varying  share,"]  "  and  let  them  be 
for  signs  and  for  seasons  and  for  days  and  for 
years."  f 

*  For  a  full  discussion  of  this  subject  see  Part  III. 

f  Verse  14.  The  Common  Version  reads,  "  Let  there  be 
lights  in  the  firmament  of  heaven  to  divide  the  day  from  the 
night,  and  let  them  be  for  signs  and  for  seasons,  and  for  days 
and  for  years." 

The  word  "  there  "  does  not  occur  in  the  original,  and  the 
verb  "  let  be  "  is  the  same  in  both  places,  save  that  it  is  of 


78  GENESIS    AND   SCIENCE. 

How  appropriate  a  description  of  such  an  axial 
change. 

Note,  too,  the  phraseology.  It  is  carefully 
chosen,  and  is  as  remarkable  for  what  it  does  not 
say,  as  for  what  it  says.  It  is  marvelously  in  ac- 
cord with  the  thought  that  its  Author  knew  that 
an  increase  of  the  inclination  of  the  earth's  axis 
then  occurred,  and  was  familiar  with  its  effects. 
This,  as  Astronomers  tell  us,  causes  the  Sun  to 
divide  the  time  unequally  between  the  day  and  the 

the  singular  number  in  the  first.  If  so  translated,  giving  it 
the  same  meaning  in  both,  the  translation  would  read,  "  And 
God  said,  Let  it  be  that  the  lights  in  the  firmament  of  heaven 
divide  "  .  .  .  "  and  let  them  be  for  signs  and  for  seasons,  for 
days  and  for  years." 

This  would  imply  their  previous  existence  and  simply 
denote  their  appointment  to  certain  duties.  It  seems  to  me 
that  one  with  a  knowledge  of  all  the  facts  of  our  Solar  Sys- 
tem (which  God  most  certainly  possessed)  and  with  no  pre- 
vious theory  to  sustain,  would  so  render  it. 

The  Common  Version  implies  the  non-existence  of  these 
bodies,  or  at  least  their  non-appearance,  in  the  expression 
"  let  there  be  lights  "  .  .  .  while  the  second  expression, "  Let 
them  be  for  signs,"  etc. ,  denotes  simple  appointment.  I  can 
see  no  good  reason  for  the  distinction. 

As  to  the  use  or  omission  of  the  article,  no  argument  can 
justly  be  drawn  from  its  presence  or  absence,  since  it  is  only 
partially  the  equivalent  of  our  own,  and  the  translators  have 
added  it  or  omitted  it  in  this  very  Chapter,  as  from  their 
stand-point  seemed  to  them  best,  and  that,  too,  without  any 
notice  to  the  reader  by  italics  or  otherwise. 

This  change  in  the  mode  of  translating  the  same  word,  is 
another  instance  of  supposed  science  affecting  the  minds  of 
the  translators.  As  the  Seventy  thought  to  bring  out  more 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  79 

night,  and  the  moon  to  divide  its  hours  of  shining, 
giving  the  winter  nights  a  greater  share  than  would 
otherwise  be  possible.  It  also,  in  connection  with 
the  Moon,  gave  the  "  signs "  indicating  the  time 
for  the  Jewish  festivals,  since  the  Passover  fell  on 
the  first  full  Moon  of  /Spring.  It  gives  seasons 
too,  and  so  makes  it  easy  to  measure  the  years ; 
but  of  months,  a  far  more  obvious  division  of  time, 
the  account  does  not  speak. 

They  alone,  although  so  evidently  dependent 

clearly  what  they  deemed  an  inspired  Cosmogony  ought  to 
nay,  by  translating  the  Hebrew  word  for  expanse  by  oreptufia, 
something  solid,  so  they  rendered  "  let,  be,"  in  the  first  part 
of  the  verse  by  yevrfiijTuaav , "  let  there  be  lights,"  i.  e.  "  let  them 
come  into  existence,"  and  in  the  second  place  by  "  laTuoav" 
let  them  be  "  for  signs,"  etc.  The  English  translators  fol- 
lowed in  their  footsteps  and  intensified  the  creative  idea,  for 
•yevrftt'lTuaav  may  also  mean  merely  appointment,  while  our 
version  drops  that  idea  altogether. 

One  other  verbal  remark  is  not  inappropriate.  "  And  "  is 
used  simply  as  a  connective,  without  necessarily  indicating 
that  the  event  mentioned  in  the  following  clause  was  sub- 
sequent in  the  order  of  time  to  that  spoken  of  before. 
Instances  in  proof  are  not  uncommon,  but  we  need  not  go 
elsewhere  to  find  them.  In  the  account  of  this  "  day,"  is 
a  case  exactly  to  the  point.  After  appointing  the  Sun  and 
Moon  to  their  respective  offices,  the  writer  adds," and  it  was 
so."  That  is,  the  thing  was  done.  The  Sun  and  Moon,  in 
obedience  to  the  divine  command,  had  already  begun  to  rule 
the  day  and  the  night.  He  then  goes  on  to  say,  "  And  God 
made  two  great  lights,"  etc. 

It  is  simply  impossible  that  the  writer  intended  us  to 
•  understand  that  God  made  these  lights  after  they  had  already 
obeyed  his  commands. 


80  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

upon  the  "lesser  light,"  and  next  to  days  the  most 
natural  to  speak  of,  are  not  mentioned  !  Why  ? 
Because  months  (originally  from  new  moon  to  new 
moon)  are  measured  by  lunar  revolutions,  and  are 
unaffected  by  any  change  in  the  obliquity  of  the 
earth's  axis.  Nor  for  the  same  reason  is  any  men- 
tion made  of  weeks,  although  their  institution  is 
one  of  the  most  apparent  objects  of  the  writer 
throughout  the  narrative,  and  stands  out  promi- 
nently in  his  subsequent  writings. 

It  may  be  said  that  if  my  explanation  be  true, 
then  the  entire  effect  was  produced  upon  the  earth 
itself,  while  Genesis  says  it  was  something  done 
to,  or  by,  the  Sun  and  Moon. 

But  this,  it  appears  to  me,  is  more  than  the 
words  of  the  Author  permit.  He  does  not  say, 
nor  as  it  seems  to  me,  necessarily  imply,  that  any- 
thing at  all  was  done  to  the  Sun  and  Moon ;  nor, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  it  within  his  purpose  to 
tell  us  the  physical  fact  that  nothing  was  done  to 
them.  True  to  its  purpose  of  photographing  facts, 
the  Narrative  simply  announces  God's  intention  or 
command  that  these  luminaries  should  divide  the 
time  between  the  day  and  the  night,  and  should 
be  for  signs  and  seasons,  for  days  and  for  years, 
and  tells  us  that  the  command  was  obeyed.  That 
k  all.  It  gives  no  word  as  to  the  physical  cause. 

Nor  is  this  any  proof  of  the  Author's  igno- 
rance or  untruthf  ulness.  As  well  complain  of  the 
expected  photographs  of  the  Transit  of  Venus  be-* 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  81 

cause  all  that  will  be  obvious  to  the  observer  is  a 
small  black  spot,  and  the  great  disk  of  the  Sun. 
Its  value  will  be  in  proportion  to  the  truthfulness 
with  which  those  two  things  shall  be  represented. 

The  great  fact  is  that  the  Sun  and  Moon  did 
divide  between  the  day  and  the  night,  and  were 
for  signs  and  for  seasons,  for  days  and  years,  and 
that  this  event  occurred  after  the  production  of 
grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit  trees,  and  before  living 
species  of  animals.  So  much  is  said  positively, 
and  it  is  clearly  implied  in  its  silence  as  to  months, 
that  nothing  was  done  to  the  moon.  These  an- 
swer all  the  conditions  of  the  Narrative,  and  are 
in  themselves  physical  facts  of  the  highest  im- 
portance. 

HiTe  I  meet  another  class  of  objectors,  who 
tell  rne  my  argument  proves  too  much,  if  it  proves 
the  third  period  "preceded  the  Glaciers,  for  such  a 
climatic  change  as  is  implied  in  varying  seasons 
and  unequal  days  and  nights,  would  necessitate 
many  new  species  of  plants  and  even  of  "  grasses, 
herbs,  and  fruit  trees,"  for  the  new  conditions ; 
and  moreover  that  the  fossils  do  show  such,  while 
Moses  says  the  Creation  of  plants  ceased  on  the 
"  third  day,"  and,  therefore,  here  is  a  contradic- 
tion. 

Upon  a  most  careful  examination  of  the  entire 
account  in  both  Chapters,  1  cannot  find  any  asser- 
tion that  no  plants  were  created  subsequently  to 
this  period.  The  writer  does  affirm  that  the 
4* 


82  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

earth  did  then  "  bring  forth  grasses,  herbs,  and 
fruit  trees."  That  is  all.  God  may,  or  may  not, 
have  created  plants  of  any  kind,  on  some  one  or 
on  each  of  the  subsequent  periods.  The  Narra- 
tive gives  no  intimation  in  the  first  Chapter.  But 
it  is  pretty  clearly  intimated,  if  not  expressly 
stated,  in  the  ninth  verse  of  the  next  Chapter, 
that  God  did  create  "  trees  "  on  the  last  creative 
epoch.  Moreover,  there  is  nowhere  any  assertion 
of  rest  from  creative  labor  until  the  seventh  day. 

The  attentive,  thoughtful  reader  will  here  note 
how,  in  this  case  as  in  many  others,  difficulties 
vanish  in  proportion  as  we  keep  close  to  the  sharp 
photographic  character  of  the  narrative,  viz.  that 
it  means  exactly  what  it  says,  no  more,  no  less. 

Placed  as  this  fourth  period  is,  after  grasses, 
herbs,  and  fruit  trees,  and  before  the  creation  of 
living  species  of  fish,  and  other  water  creatures, 
and  fowl,  it  establishes  the  Biological  date  of  the 
great  Climatic  change  precisely  where  Geology 
places  a  great  climatic  change,  i.  e.  at  the  era  of 
the  Glaciers. 

After  stating  the  offices  of  "  the  lights  in  the 
firmament,"  the  writer,  with  emphatic  repetition, 
guards  against  the  possibility  of  the  Star-worship- 
pers saying  that  his  Creatorship  did  not  include 
the  Stars ;  he  amplifies  and  repeats  ;  He  made  the 
sun ;  He  made  the  moon ;  He  set  them  in  the 
heavens  to  rule  over  the  day  and  over  the  night; 
He  made  the  stars  also. 


THE   NEW   WITNESSES.  83 

That  I  am  correct  in  considering  the  sixteenth 
Terse  as  retrospective,  is  clearly  shown,  apart  from 
any  verbal  or  grammatical  argument,  by  its  includ- 
ing the  "  stars  also."  As  the  Stars  must  have 
been  intended,  as  well  as  the  Sun  and  Moon,  in 
the  first  verse  (otherwise  it  means  nothing),  the 
subsequent  statement  must  be  merely  a  repeti- 
tion. 

It  would  be  too  illogical  to  say  that  in  this 
statement,  where  "lights"  and  "stars"  are  the 
object  of  the  same  verb,  creation  was  intended  in 
the  one  case  and  something  very  different  in  the 
other.  It  cannot  be  that  a  writer  able  to  pen 
sentences  that  have  ever  been  the  admiration  of 
critics,  should  so  far  stultify  himself  as  to  say  in 
the  first  verse,  that  God  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth,  and  then  in  the  sixteenth  verse,  say  that 
he  did  this  very  thing  on  the  fourth  period  after. 

In  these  words,  "  the  stars  also,"  I  note  a  care- 
ful guarding  against  misapprehension,  a  fact  thrown 
in  that  refuses  to  harmonize  with  any  explanation 
save  one  based  on  the  actual  facts  of  the  history  of 
the  Universe. 

Moreover,  in  this  clause,  "  the  stars  also," 
there  is  a  reaching  out  to  'truth  which  has  just 
been  scientifically  demonstrated,  viz.  that  the 
stars  have  the  same  origin  as  our  earth  and  sun. 
It  has  been,  for  not  many  years,  strongly  suspected 
that  this  was  true,  for  the  elliptic  orbits  of  the 
double  stars  show  that  they  are  subject  to  the 


84  GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 

same  laws  of  gravitation,  inertia,  and  motion  ; 
while  their  light  is  obedient  to  the  same  optical 
laws.  But  it  was  reserved  for  that  most  delicate 
of  all  means  of  investigation,  that  marvel  of 
power,  the  spectroscope,  to  tell  us  that  the  mate- 
rials of  those  distant  orbs,  as  well  as  of  our  own 
sun,  are  essentially  identical  with  those  of  the 
earth  on  which  we  live. 

"  God  made  two  great  lights."  Here  I  note, 
before  leaving  this  part  of  the  account,  a  precision 
of  language  that  our  English  does  not  express.  In 
verses  3,  4,  5,  the  word  light  differs  in  more  than 
grammatical  number  from  the  "  lights"  of  verses 
14,  15,  16.  These  indicate  bodies  not  composed 
of  light,  but  places  or  sources  whence  light  ema- 
nates. 

The  events  of  this  period  not  only  gave  man- 
kind the  pleasures  arising  from  changing  seasons, 
but  also  largely  increased  the  limits  of  the  earth's 
inhabitability.  It  was  not  a  stage  to  further  pro- 
gress in  this  direction,  but  marked  the  completion 
of  climatic  preparation  for  the  coming  man.  It 
might  be  warmer  or  colder,  but  henceforth  the 
long  winter  nights  were  to  be  followed  by  the 
long  days  of  summer.  The  monotony  of  the  pre- 
glacial  climate  was  gone  forever.  Those  changes 
necessary  for  this  purpose  having  been  com- 
pleted, the  arrangements  of  day  and  night,  and 
seasons,  bore  the  Divine  inspection  and  were  pro- 
nounced "good,"  i.  e.  not  only  "good"  as  a 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  85 

source  of  enjoyment  to  man,  but  completed.  No 
f  urtlier  change  in  that  direction  has  since  occurred. 

All  investigation  confirms  the  verdict. 

Geologists  tell  us  that  after  the  work  of  the 
great  circumpolar  upheavals  was  ended,  and  the 
epoch  of  the  Glaciers  drew  toward  its  close,  sum- 
mer revisited  the  earth.  The  melting  ice  flooded 
the  world  with  ice-cold  water  to  an  extent  of 
which  we  can  with  difficulty  conceive.  Immense 
lakes  and  rivers  covered  a  large  portion  of  its  sur- 
face. The  ocean  and  the  land,  the  lakes  and  the 
rivers,  must,  in  temperature,  have  been  for  a  long 
time  in  much  the  same  condition  as  present  cir- 
cumpolar regions,  such  as  the  upper  part  of  British 
America,  or  the  northern  parts  of  the  Eastern 
Continent.  The  conditions  of  animal  life  of  that 
period  and  of  these  regions  now,  must  have  been 
in  a  great  degree  identical. 

The  fauna  at  this  day  characteristic  of  circum- 
polar lands  and  waters,  are  fishes  and  fowl,  whales, 
and  other  sea  monsters  living  in,  or  on,  the  water, 
and  the  tiny  mollusks  such  as  form  the  food  of 
the  right  whale.  These  all  swarm  in  an  abun- 
dance, of  which  those  who  live  in  warmer  climes 
can  form  no  conception.  Nowhere  else  do  water 
animals  and  water  fowl  so  abound. 

Such  by  "  Uniformity  of  Law,"  and,  if  you 
please,  by  "Natural  Selection,"  should  have  been 
the  character  of  the  animals  that  followed  the 


86  GENESIS    AND   SCIENCE. 

work  of  the  fourth  day,  if  that  was  the  era  of  the 
Glaciers.* 

Compare  with  this  the  Mosaic  record  of  the 
work  of  the  fifth  period.  "  God  said,  '  Let  the 
waters  bring  forth  abundantly  the  moving  crea- 
ture that  hath  life,  and  fowl  that  may  fly  above  the 
earth  in  the  open  firmament  (expanse)  of  heaven.' 
And  God  created  great  whales,f  and  every  living 
creature  that  moveth  which  the  waters  brought 
forth  abundantly,  after  their  kind  (i.  e.  water 
creatures),  and  every  winged  fowl  after  his  kind." 

The  language  is  general  enough  to  include  all 
living  species  of  water  animals  and  fowls  ;  but  it  is 
marvelously  characteristic  of  the  present  fauna  of 
circumpolar  regions,  and,  if  so  intended,  fixes,  on 
this  side,  the  Biological  epoch  of  the  grand  cli- 
matic change  of  which  the  Glacial  was  the  scene. 

Here  I  may  be  met  with  the  fact  that  although 
"fishes,  reptiles,  birds,  and  mammals"  of  the  pre- 
glacial  period  are  now  utterly  extinct,  yet  undoubt- 
edly some  protozoans  and  molluskshave  survived. 
Whether  such  a  survivorship  of  so  small  a  number 

*  Lyell,  Principles  of  Geology,  p.  125, 126,  says,  speaking 
of  a  period  preceding  man :  "  It  appears  that  an  arctic  fauna 
specifically  resembling  that  of  the  present  seas,  extended 
farther  to  the  South  than  now.  The  date  appears  to  coin- 
cide very  nearly  with  the  era  of  the  dispersion  of  erratic 
blocks  over  Europe  and  North  America,"  i.  e.  the  close  of 
the  Glacial  Epoch. 

f  So  rendered  in  our  version,  but  rather  any  large  crea- 
ture living  in  the  water,  not  properly  a  fish. 


THE   NEW   WITNESSES.  87 

of  species,  so  low  in  the  scale  of  existence,  would 
affect  the  literal  truth  of  so  brief  a  statement,  is  a 
question  that  I  think  might  justly  be  answered  in 
the  negative.  But  this  objection,  minute  as  it  is, 
disappears  on  a  close  examination  of  the  verses 
themselves. 

In  the  twentieth  verse  is  an  exact  statement  of 
what  God  proposed  to  do,  or  to  have  the  waters  do. 
It  was  simply  to  bring  forth  abundantly  the  mov- 
ing creature  that  hath  life  (i.  e.  living,  moving 
creatures,  as  fishes  and  other  animals)  "  and  fowl." 
That  is  all.  If  they  brought  forth  abundantly 
such  a  fauna,  the  account  is  literally  verified. 
There  may  already  have  been  many  creatures  in 
the  seas,  or  there  may  have  been  few  ;  the  account 
does  not  say.  After  stating  God's  purpose  at  that 
time,  the  Author,  with  the  view  of  asserting  God's 
universal  creatorship,  says,  "God  created  great 
whales  and  every  winged  fowl."  Each  verse  is 
literally  true.  Each  subserves  its  own  purpose. 
The  thought  that  underlies  the  statements  is  the 
same  as  that  discussed  in  reference  to  the  repetition 
of  God's  creatorship,  as  to  Sun,  Moon,  and  Stars, 
and  it  again  appears  in  verses  24  and  25,  in  the 
account  of  the  work  of  the  next  period. 

The  waters  it  is  evident  were  fit  for  life  sooner 
than  the  land,  save  the  smaller  islands  and  the 
shores  of  other  lands.  Inland,  a  lower  tempera- 
ture prevailed.  Floods  and  torrents  laid  waste 
the  country.  During  the  earlier  portion  of  this 


88  .GENESIS   ADD   SCIENCE. 

transition  period,  the  possibilities  of  animal  life, 
other  than  that  mentioned,  must  have  been  small. 
Bat  as  the  ice  disappeared,  the  conditions  grew 
more  and  more  favorable,  until  at  last  the  laud 
was  ready  for  its  proper  fauna.  The  gigantic 
mammalia  of  the  Post-Tertiary  made  their  appear- 
ance, flourished,  and  began  to  pass  away,  and  to- 
ward its  close  began  to  be  found  the  remains  of 
the  living  creatures  of  to-day,  "  cattle,  beasts,  and 
creeping  things." 

These  are  the  animals  of  which  Genesis  speaks. 
"  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the  liv- 
ing creature  after  his  kind,  and  cattle  and  creeping 
thing,  and  beast  of  the  earth,  after  his  kind  ;  and 
it  was  so." 

Is  not  this  justly  and  fairly  a  description  of  the 
"living  "  fauna  of  to-day,  given  by  one  to  whom 
man  and  his  interests  are  objects  of  central  im- 
portance ? 

This  work,  then,  as  complete  and  satisfactory 
to  the  Divine  Architect,  received  his  seal  of  ap- 
probation, and  he  pronounces  it  "  good." 

The  study  of  ancient  and  modern  organic  life 
has  developed  three  great  facts : 

That  all  organisms  were  outlined  in  the  first 
created  of  each  grand  division,  i.  e.  the  first  mol- 
lusk  exhibited  the  general  plan  of  all  mollusks, 
the  first  radiate,  of  all  radiates,  and  so  on. 

That  along  the  course  of  each  series,  there  ap- 
peared from  time  to  time  "  comprehensive  types" 


THE    NEW    WITNESSES.  89 

which,  with  the  characteristics  of  the  group  to 
which  they  belong,  exhibit  others  of  groups  not 
yet  in  existence,  prophetic  of  future  developments. 

That  those  characteristics  which  united  give 
what  naturalists  call  species,  are  ineffaceable,  at 
least  in  historic  times. 

I  note  after  the  Mosaic  Account  of  each  or- 
ganic creation  thus  far,  the  words  "  after  his  kind." 
Is  not  this  the  true  formula  that  embraces  these 
three  ideas  ? 

Last  of  all  in  the  records  of  the  rocks,  we  find 
the  remains  of  man.*  His  bones  are  sometimes 
mingled  with  those  of  gigantic  mammalia  then 
living,  but  extinct  before  the  historic  period  com- 
menced. 

We  find  no  prototype  of  him,  no  evidence  of 
brings  similarly  endowed.  Whatever  remains 
are  found  belonging  to  Man,  belong  to  him  alone, 
and  to  no  intermediate  creature.  He  stands  on  an 
eminence  unapproachable. 

Genesis  tells  us,  "  So  God  created  man  in  his 
own  image." 

This  was  the  culniination  of  God's  creation, 
and  then,  as  it  were  closing  up  his  work,  with  the 
arrangement  of  the  Garden,  the  naming  of  the 
animals,  the  formation  of  Eve,  the  bestowal  of  his 
blessing  upon  the  pair,  the  grant  of  dominion  over 

*  Lyell,  Manual,  p.  117.  "  That  portion  of  the  Post-plio- 
cene group  which  belongs  to  the  human  epoch,  forms  a  very 
unimportant  feature  of  the  Geological  structure  of  the  earth's 
crust." 


90  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

all  other  creatures,  the  allotment  of  seed-bearing 
herbs  and  fruit-bearing  trees  to  man  for  food,  and 
the  green  herb  to  all  others,  "God  saw  every 
thing  that  he  had  made,  and  behold  it  was  all  very 
good/' 

Is  it  not^o? 

The  wisest  of  philosophers  measure  their  ac- 
quirements by  their  knowledge  of  this  that  God 
has  done,  and  find  the  greater  the  height  to  which 
they  attain,  the  more  boundless  appears  the  vista 
beyond. 

After  man,  Geology  tells  of  no  new  creatures. 
That  power  which  produced  such  a  marvelously 
abundant  succession  of  species,  has,  since  man's 
appearance  upon  the  globe,  ceased  to  operate.* 
Science  seeks  in  vain  for  an  explanation  of  this 
strange  cessation. 

But  in  Genesis  is  found  a  key  to  the  mystery. 
After  God  had  through  six  creative  periods 
brought  his  world  to  a  condition  worthy,  in  his 
infinite  judgment,  of  the  verdict  "  very  good," 
given  on  the  sixth  and  last  of  the  "  days,"  we  are 
told,  "On  the  seventh  day  God  ended  his  work 
which  he  had  made,  and  he  rested  on  the  seventh 
day  from  all  his  work  which  he  had  made." 

We  have  now  gone  item  by  item  through  the 
Mosaic  Account  of  Creation.  It  touches  modern 

*  Darwinians  deny  this,  but  base  their  denial  upon  the 
assumption  that  somehow  and  somewhere  proof  to  the  con- 
trary will  yet  be  found.  An  uncertain  foundation  on  which 
to  rest  so  large  a  conclusion  1 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  91 

Science  in  almost  every  phrase.  Throughout  it 
all,  there  is  no  hesitation,  no  doubt,  no  cloudiness 
shrouding  ignorance  in  words  that  mean  any  thing 
or  nothing,  but  the  simplest  and  most  positive 
assertions,  the  confident  utterance  of  one  who,  in 
the  fulness  of  perfect  knowledge,  describes  actual 
occurrences. 

The  identity  of  this  Narrative  and  the  latest 
results  of  Scientific  investigation,  made  too  often 
in  no  friendly  spirit,  is  so  complete  that  they 
stand  or  fall  together,  a  fact  that  is  absolutely  in- 
comprehensible on  the  theory  that  the  former  is 
the  production,  not  of  Moses  merely,  but  of  the 
united  wisdom  of  all  the  world  down  to  within 
the  last  quarter  of  a  century. 

Nor  does  it  aid  in  solving  the  mystery  to  as- 
sume that  Moses  obtained  the  story  from  tradition 
or  more  ancient  documents.  It  is  only  thrown 
farther  back,  and  the  question  still  presents  itself, 
"  flow  did  any  man  obtain  this  knowledge  ? " 

To  this  question  I  can  see  but  one  answer. 
He  who  formed  the  world  for  man  gave  him  this 
history. 

I  submit  whether  those  who  reject  this  expla- 
nation are  not  bound  to  give  one  which  shall  be 
more  satisfactory  ? 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE   "DAYS." 

I  NOW  resume  the  consideration  of  the  "  day" 
mentioned  in  the  Mosaic  Cosmogony. 

The  view  most  prevalent  among  Scientists 
who  accept  this  Narrative  as  of  Divine  origin,  is 
that  the  "  Days  "  spoken  of,  are  simply  indefi- 
nite periods.  Much  can  be  said  in  favor  of  this 
opinion.  It  has  moreover  the  advantage  (if  it  be 
one)  of  being  no  newfangled  notion,  for  some  of 
the  most  profound  writers,  centuries  ago,  held  that 
these  "days"  embraced  a  larger  meaning  than 
the  time  of  a  diurnal  revolution,  and  this  from  a 
consideration  of  the  text  itself,  and  not  from  any 
special  knowledge  of  the  physical  facts  involved. 

The  question  from  this  stand-point  is  ably 
argued  by  DP.  Tayler  Lewis,  in  his  article  on  the 
"Six  Days,"  in  Lange's  Commentary. 

To  this  view  I  cordially  assented,  until  within 
a  brief  period.  But  reflection  upon  the  curious 
and  careful  wording  of  each  phrase,  brought  the 
conviction  that  the  force  of  "  day "  is  not  ex- 
hausted by  saying  it  refers  to  periods  of  indefinite 
length,  although  that  meaning  is  most  clearly  in- 
dicated in  the  fourth  verse  of  the  next  chapter. 


THE   MOSAIC    DAYS.  93 

I  became  dissatisfied  with  any  explanation 
that  ignores  the  intense  literalism  of  the  whole 
account. 

With  a  view  to  harmonize  all  the  conditions 
of  the  problem,  I  carefully  reexamined  the  narra- 
tive, and  applied  the  key  that  unlocked  so  many 
difficulties  in  the  other  parts  of  the  story,  viz. : 

"The  Author  meant  just  exactly  what  is 
written,  no  more,  no  less." 

As  to  the  interval  of  time  between  any  two 
events  successively  mentioned,  we  have  no  data, 
in  the  account,  by  which  we  can  judge  of  its  ex- 
tent, and  can  no  more  form  an  idea  of  it,  than  of 
the  true  distances  of  the  stars  from  each  other,  by 
their  apparent  places  in  the  sky. 

The  first  use  of  this  word  occurs  in  verse  4, 
"And  God  called  the  liirht  day."  Here  evidently 
"  day  "  is  simply  the  opposite  of  night,  a  period 
of  about  twelve  hours. 

This  is  the  primary  and  most  common  mean- 
ing of  the  word.  Another  and  higher  idea  is 
found  in  the  use  of  day  as  embracing  a  period  of 
light  and  one  of  darkness,  or  one  evening  and  one 
morning.  This  is  the  second  use.  The  writer 
says,  u  And  the  evening  and  the  morning  were 
one  day."  These  evidently  make  the  limits  of 
one  diurnal  revolution,  or  twenty-four  hours. 

We  would  naturally  expect  Moses  to  say,  as 
our  English  translators  have  made  him,  "  were 
t\iQ  first  day."  But  in  the  avoidance  of  the  latter 


94  THE   MOSAIC   DAYS. 

expression,  I  see  another  indication  of  the  bound- 
less knowledge  of  the  Author  that  lets  nothing 
escape  him. 

Moses,  writing  from  his  own  knowledge,  had 
that  been  possible,  would  naturally  have  placed 
the  formula,  "  the  evening  and  the  morning  were 
the  first  day,"  directly  after  God  pronounced  the 
light  good.  This  first  announcement  of  comple- 
tion and  perfection  was  properly  the  "  first  day," 
according  to  the  analogy  of  the  "  days  "  in  the 
other  parts  of  the  chapter. 

Moses  could  not  have  known  what,  thanks  to 
Laplace  and  others,  is  now  so  evident,  that  such  a 
statement  could  not  have  been  the  representation 
of  a  physical  truth,  for  when  light  appeared,  and 
in  its  perfection  merited  and  received  the  Divine 
commendation  as  "  good,"  and  for  a  long,  long  time 
afterward,  the  earth  was  an  integral  portion  of  the 
great  Cosmic  Nebula.  Not  even  the  outermost 
planet  had  yet  left  the  parent  mass.  Hence  a  day 
at  that  time  was  physically  impossible. 

When,  therefore,  the  earth  had  an  individual 
existence,  and  by  its  axial  revolution  began  to 
measure  duration  by  days,  the  time  for  saying  the 
first  day,  according  to  the  analogy  of  the  other 
days,  had  long  been  passed. 

The  creation  of  matter,  the  imparting  of  motion 
and  the  consequent  giving  forth  of  light,  were 
events  that  wholly  antedated  the  individual  exist 
ence  of  our  earth,  and  would  have  been  equally 


THE  MOSAIC   DAYS.  95 

real  occurrences  if  the  Cosmic  Nebula  had  not  yet 
changed  to  planets  and  Sun. 

But  this  separation  of  the  light  from  the  dark- 
ness was  a  fact  specially  pertaining  to  the  earth, 
and  is  the  beginning  of  its  individual  history. 

Hence,  in  order  to  bring  this  important  epoch 
into  the  "  six  days,"  the  Author  saw  fit  to  open 
the  narrative  with  the  assertion  that  this  evening 
and  morning  of  separation  were  simply  "  one 
day."  * 

Another  epoch  of  world-growth  commenced ; 
ages  upon  ages  was  the  hot  dull  ball  cooling,  ever 
bringing  nearer  the  day  when  the  waters  could 
lie  undisturbed  upon  its  surface,  or  float  in  the 
upper  air.  At  last  it  came.  The  evening  and  the 
morning  when  God  had  completed  this  great  work, 
"and  it  was  so,"  was  the  second  day  of  work 
ended. 

Another  period  begins  ;  vast  progress  is  made ; 
the  dry  land  appears ;  the  waters  are  gathered 
into  seas.  Grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit  trees  mark 
the  culmination.  God  contemplates  his  work, 
and  that  day  when  "  Qod  saw  it  was  good,"  that 

*  In  the  peculiar  wording  of  this  and  the  succeeding 
enumeration  of  the  "  days,"  is  another  welling  forth  of  the 
infinite  knowledge  of  the  One  who  indited  this  account. 
Knowing  all  things,  speaking  absolute  truth,  his  words  have 
a  fulness  of  meaning  that  will  ever  expand  with  the  growth 
of  our  knowledge.  Not  to  interrupt  this  article  I  have 
thrown  together,  in  a  separate  section,  some  of  the  thoughts 
suggested  by  the  peculiar  wording  of  which  I  have  spoken. 


96  THE   MOSAIC   DAYS. 

day  of  announcement  and  satisfaction,  was  the 
third  day. 

A  fourth  epoch  opens ;  great  climatic  changes 
occur ;  the  Sun  and  Moon,  henceforth,  are  to  be 
for  signs  and  for  seasons,  for  days  and  for  years. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  physical  changes 
that  took  place,  there  came  a  day  at  last  when 
they  were  completed.  The  work  was  accepted 
and  pronounced  "good,"  and  that  day,  the  end 
of  this  epoch,  the  day  of  approval,  was  the  fourth 
day. 

Another  epoch  begins.  Animal  life,  which 
commenced  untold  ages  back  in  the  Protozoans, 
Mollusks,  Radiates,  and  Articulates  of  the  Paleo- 
zoic Period,  and  which  had  passed  through  so 
many  stages  of  progress,  found  its  first  culmina- 
tion in  living  species  of  fowls  and  fishes.  "  God 
saw  that  it  was  good,"  and  this  day  of  approval 
and  announcement  was  marked  in  the  sacred 
record  as  "  the  fifth  day." 

Another  period  opens.  Modern  "  beasts  and 
cattle  "  walk  the  land.  Man,  the  master  of  all,  ap- 
pears. The  day  of  entire  completion  came,  the  day 
when  God  looked  upon  his  work  and  pronounced 
it  a  very  good;"  this  day  was  the  sixth  day. 

In  these  verses,  from  the  eighth  to  the  last, 
the  writer  has  given  a  third  use  of  the  word,  an 
epochal  day,  a  day  of  announcement,  a  day  of 
completion,  having  no  reference  whatever  to  the 
length  of  the  day,  as  when  I  speak  of  Independ- 


THE   MOSAIC    DAYS.  97 

once  Day,  the  term  has  no  allusion  to  the  length 
of  that  day. 

Again,  in  the  fourth  verse  of  the  next  Chapter 
there  occurs  yet  another  use  of  the  word,  and  this 
the  more  interesting. because  it  is  the  only  phrase 
in  either  Chapter,  that  purports  to  tell  us  how  long 
was  the  time  in  which  God  created  the  earth  and 
the  heavens. 

"  In  the  day  the  LORD  God  created  the  earth 
and  the  heavens."  This  day  cannot  possibly  be 
twenty -four  hours,  for  the  writer  has  told  us  of  six 
epochal  days  that  certainly  elapsed  during  the  time 
of  creation ;  there  is  no  logical  escape  from  the 
conclusion,  "  the  day "  of  the  second  chapter 
must  be  a  period  of  indefinite  duration,  as  when 
an  old  man  speaks  of  things  that  happened  in  his 
day. 

A  day  came  when  God  ceased  to  work,  and  the 
day  of  that  cessation  was  the  seventh  of  this 
epochal  series. 

By  thus  combining  the  meanings  of  the  word 
day,  meanings  certainly  not  incongruous  to  the 
context,  and  in  themselves  of  every-day  use,  we 
are  able  to  satisfy  all  the  conditions  of  the  problem ; 
the  literal  six  days,  the  indefinite  period,  and  the 
Geological  epochs,  all  blending  like  the  colors  of 
the  spectrum  into  one  beam  of  light. 

I  cannot  feel  that  I  have  done  full  justice  to 
this  question  of  the  "  days,"  in  its  broadest  mean- 
ing, without  considering  the  assertion  made  in  the 
5 


98  ON  THE  "DAY  CLAUSES." 

Fourth  Commandment ;  but  as  I  have  set  out  to 
examine  the  Story  of  Creation  recorded  in  Genesis, 
as  an  independent  document,  I  shall  not  undertake 
the  consideration  of  the  other  at  present.  In  Part 
II.  the  subject  will  be  resumed. 

ON  THE  PECULIAR  PHRASEOLOGY  OF  THE  "DAY" 
CLAUSES. 

When  reading  thoughtfully  the  Mosaic  Account 
of  Creation,  one  cannot  avoid  being  impressed  by 
the  sixfold  repetition  of  certain  expressions  which, 
for  lack  of  other  name,  I  have  styled  the  "  day 
clauses."  If  he  extends  his  examination  into  the 
Septuagint,  he  finds  in  these  certain  peculiarities 
that  do  not  appear  in  the  English  Bible,  and  on 
referring  to  the  Hebrew  he  finds  there  the  same. 

Believing,  as  I  am  forced  to  do,  from  the  re- 
sults of  the  examination  of  this  Narrative  thus  far, 
that  every  word  and  phrase  in  it,  was  chosen  for  a 
purpose,  and  that  the  harmony  between  Science 
and  this  Account  increases  in  proportion  as  we 
get  closer  to  the  very  words  of  the  Author,  I  pro- 
pose now  to  study  these  declarations  in  order  to 
discover,  if  possible,  their  counterparts  in  our 
world's  development. 

We  read,  verse  4,  "  And  God  divided  bet\\4een 
the  light  and  the  darkness  (v.  5),  And  God  called 
the  light  Day  and  the  darkness  he  called  Night, 
and  the  evening  was  .  .  .  and  the  morning  was 
one  day."  This  is  the  reading  of  the  Septuagint 


ON  THE  "DAY  CLAUSES."  99 

and  of  the  Hebrew,  while  our  English  version 
drops  one  of  the  verbs,  makes  the  other  plural,  and 
for  "  one  "  substitutes  "  first."  As  the  Hebrew  is 
the  only  account  that  has  any  claim  to  be  inspired, 
I  dismiss  the  others  without  further  remark. 

The  use  of  the  cardinal  "  one,"  and  the  repeti- 
tion of  the  verb  with  one  predicate  nominative, 
the  other  being  easily  supplied,  are  forms  of  ex- 
pression so  peculiar  in  themselves  that  I  cannot 
avoid  the  belief  that  they  were  employed  in  view 
of  some  physical  fact  well  known  to  the  Author, 
and  by  him  deemed  sufficiently  important  to  be 
thus  noticed. 

I  am  aware  that  the  Hebrew  ordinals  do  not 
extend  below  "second,"  and  that  the  numeral 
"  one  "  is  sometimes  used  when  the  context  clearly 
indicates  that  it  must  be  translated  by  "  first,"  but 
such  use  is  comparatively  rare,  and  occurs  only 
where  no  ambiguity  can  arise.  In  other  cases  a 
different  word  meaning  "  head"  is  employed,  par- 
ticularly if  it  is  specially  intended  to  denote  the 
first  of  a  series  or  procession,  as  in  the  English 
Version. 

That  I  am  justified  in  not  considering  this  as 
merely  another  mode  of  saying  "  first,"  is  shown 
not  oaly  by  the  Septuagint,  as  1  have  already 
said,  and  by  the  Vulgate,  but  Josephus  speaks  of 
the  phrase  "  one  day,"  and  calls  attention  to  it  as 
something  needing  explanation. 

To  get  at  the  full  meaning  of  these  most  pecu- 


100  ON  THE  "DAY  CLAUSES." 

liar  expressions,  one  must  place  himself,  as  far  as 
possible,  on  the  stand-point  of  the  Author,  and 
turn  upon  them  all  the  light  that  Science  has 
given  us  as  to  the  condition,  form,  inclination  and 
movements  of  the  world  from  "  the  beginning  "  to 
the  present  moment.  This  in  all  humility — for 
our  highest  knowledge  is  ignorance  in  comparison 
with  his. 

The  Author  of  Genesis  knew,  with  the  clear- 
ness of  actiial  vision,  the  diurnal  motion  of  the 
earth,  its  sphericity  and  the  position  of  its  axis. 
If  the  latter  was  at  that  epoch  (i.  e.  when  the  earth 
became  non-luminous  and  day  and  night  properly 
began)  perpendicular  to  the  plane  of  its  orbit,  as  I 
hope  to  show  hereafter,  the  crucial  phenomenon 
indicating  such  a  condition  would  be  the  equality 
of  the  days  and  nights.  Not  only  was  that  a 
crucial  phenomenon,  but  it  was  the  only  one  then 
possible,  since  the  intense  heat  of  the  scarcely 
solidified  earth  as  yet  forbade  all  thought  of  alter- 
nating seasons. 

This  condition,  if  it  existed,  was  one  of  im- 
mense importance  as  a  stage  in  the  development 
of  our  globe,  one  whose  influence  must  have  been 
felt  in  modifying  all  its  subsequent  progress.  To 
describe  it  in  scientific  formulae  was  simply  impos- 
sible ;  there  remained  only  one  course,  viz.  to  put 
upon  record  a  physical  fact,  which  characterized 
it.  The  only  physical  fact  of  the  kind  required, 


ON   THE   "  DAY   CLAUSES."  101 

which  it  was  possible  to  put  into  words,  was  the 
equality  of  the  day  and  night.* 

Note  the  manner  in  which  this  is  done.  That 
we  may  not  mistake  "  day  "  for  the  period  of  an 
entire  axial  revolution,  but  may  limit  it  to  the 
special  meaning  which  the  Author  intends  to 
employ,  he  first  defines  it  as  the  period  of  light  in 
opposition  to  that  of  darkness.  "  The  light  he 
called  Day,  and  the  darkness  he  called  Night." 
How  better  express  that  thought  ?  How  more 
clearly  define  his  use  of  the  words  ?  Then,  having 
thus  limited  the  "Day,"  he  adds, the  evening  (i.  e. 
from  sundown  forward)  was — what?  Evidently 
the  sole  substantive  "day"  must  be  the  thing 
whirh  u  the  evening  was."  In  like  manner  he 

,  "  and  the  morning  was  one  day." 

lit  nee,  by  the  familiar  axiom,  "things  equal 
to  the  same  things  are  equal  to  each  other,"  the 
evening  was  equal  to  the  morning.  In  other 
\\.n-ils,  the  time  from  sundown  forward  to  the 
coining  li<rht  was  equal  to  the  time  from  sunrise 
to  the  coming  darkness,  or  in  more  modern  phrase, 
the  day  and  night  were  equal. 

In  so  brief  and  pregnant  a  narrative  it  may 
well  be  that  one  meaning  does  not  exhaust  it. 
That  there  is  here  also  a  reference  to  the  order  of 
succession,  is  evident,  since  the  next  is  styled  the 

*  The  reader  is  referred  to  Part  III.  for  the  full  argument. 
I  now  assume  that  it  is  a  fact  that  at  this  epoch  the  earth's 
axis  was  nearly  perpendicular  to  its  orbit. 


102  ON  THE  "DAY  CLAUSES." 

"  second  day."  This  idea  was  the  only  one  which 
the  Jews  derived  from  the  text.  But  this  is  no 
proof  that  the  Author  so  intended  to  limit  himself. 
That  their  understanding  was  no  measure  of  the 
wealth  of  meaning  conveyed,  is  shown  by  their 
distorted  views  of  the  statements  relative  to  our 
Saviour. 

The  only  key  to  this  account  is,  that  the 
Author,  knowing  all  now  known  to  Philosophers, 
and  infinitely  more,  and  striving  to  compress  into 
a  few  phenomenal  sentences  some  fragment*  of 
his  own  infinite  knowledge,  has  given  us  more 
than  we  shall  ever  comprehend. 

Thus  much  as  to  the  "  one  day."  As  to  the 
following  days,  the  wording  is  equally  peculiar. 
In  them  we  find  only  the  ordinal  numbers,  showing 
it  to  be  preeminently  a  matter  of  numerical  suc- 
cession, but  it  is  accotnpanied  by  that  strange 
repetition  of  the  singular  verb.  Our  language 
finds  it  difficult  to  indicate  this  change  of  meaning 
without  a  greater  change  in  the  form  of  expression 
than  is  found  in  either  the  Hebrew  or"  the  Greek. 
As  literally  as  I  can  render  these  phrases  they 
read :  "  'Twas  evening  and  'twas  morning  the 
second  day,"  "  'Twas  evening  and  'twas  morning 
the  third  day,"  and  in  like  manner  through  the 
six.* 

*  The  phrase  for  the  sixth  day  seems  to  be  rendered 
more  emphatic  by  the  use  of  the  article.  I  know  of  no  rea- 
son for  this,  except,  perhaps,  its  culminating  character. 


ON  THE  "DAY  CLAUSES."  103 

What  does  that  mean  ?  The  expression  occurs 
nowhere  else.  Is  the  repetition  of  the  verb  mere 
surplusage  ?  I  cannot  think  so. 

If  one,  in  the  study  of  Laplace's  great  work, 
met  some  unusual  form  of  expression,  but  often 
repeated  by  him,  it  would  be  presumption  in  him 
to  reject  the  great  master's  words  as  surplusage 
because  to  him  they  seemed  to  convey  no  special 
meaning.  It  would  rather  be  the  part  of  modest 
common  sense  to  say,  the  Great  Geometer  has 
shown  by  his  profound  analysis  that  he  is  master 
of  his  subject,  and  the  very  peculiarity  and  fre- 
quency of  this  baffling  phrase  indicate  a  purpose  in 
its  use.  There  must  lie  hidden  a  sense  which  I 
have  not  yet  been  able  to  reach.  The  fault  is  in  my 
ignorance,  or  in  my  lack  of  mathematical  acumen. 

If,  then,  the  peculiar  phraseology  be  not  sur- 
plusage, there  is  something  beneath  the  surface 
for  which  I  propose  to  search. 

First,  then,  I  note  that  the  "  one  day  "  did  not 
follow  an  announcement  of  completion,  but  merely 
a  statement  that  God  divided  between  the  light 
and  the  darkness,  and  is,  as  I  have  endeavored  to 
show,  simply  the  statement  of  a  physical  fact,  the 
then  equality  of  the  days  and  nights. 

Secondly,  I  also  notice  that  each  of  the  other 
"  day  clauses  "  follows  an  announcement  of  com- 
pletion. 

There  is,  apparently,  somewhat  of  variation 
from  this  statement  in  the  third  and  sixth  days. 


104:  ON   THE   "  DAY    CLAUSES." 

On  each  of  these  there  are  two  announcements  of 
completion,  but  those  on  the  third  day  were 
really  synchronous,  as  Geology  shows,  while  on 
the  sixth,  I  am  almost  sure  there  was  the  same 
synchronism  ;  but,  however  that  may  be,  the  "  day 
clause  "  follows  the  final  and  preeminent  verdict  of 
completion  and  approval,  being  not  the  comple- 
tion of  any  one  part  but  of  the  totality. 

The  utterance  of  such  a  verdict,  "  it  was  so," 
or  "  God  saw  it  was  good/5  was  the  work  of  but  a 
moment,  yet  it  marked  the  completion  of  an  infi- 
nitely important  stage  of  world-growth.  It  was 
not  a  completion  limited  to  any  one  locality,  but 
it  affected  every  part  of  the  globe,  in  harmony 
with  the  Geologic  belief  that  each  great  era  of 
structural  change  or  development  of  organic  life 
was  world-wide  in  extent.*  Read  in  this  light, 
these  phrases  become  intelligible.  They  are  an- 
nouncements made  for  no  limited  portion  of  the 
globe,  but  include,  in  modern  terminology,  both 
hemispheres.  In  the  universal  language  of  phe- 
nomena, they  embrace  the  places  where  'twas 
evening  as  well  as  those  where  'twas  morning, 
from  where  the  sun  was  setting  to  where  it  was 
rising,  and  from  where  it  was  rising  to  where  it 
was  setting.  No  other  phenomenal  language  can 
better  express  this  modern  idea  of  world-wide 

*  The  grander  subdivisions  or  ages  in  Geological  history, 
based  in  organic  progress  ...  are  universal  ideas  for  the 
globe.  (Dana,  Manual,  p.  138.) 


ON  THE  "DAY  CLAUSES."  105 

simultaneous  completion.  By  giving  the  number 
of  each  day,  the  Author  also  keeps  prominent  his 
purpose  of  instituting  six  days  of  labor  and  one 
of  rest. 

Even  man's  creation  is  first  given,  not  so  much 
as  a  local  event,  as  in  connection  with  its  being 
the  completion  of  the  entire  work,  and  the  "  day 
clause  "  follows  the  earth-wide  assertion  "  and  God 
saw  everything  that  he  had  made,  and  behold  it 
was  all  very  good." 

In  speaking  of  the  seventh  day  there  is  a 
marked  change  of  expression.  We  do  not  read 
'twas  morning  and  'twas  evening  the  seventh  day, 
but  "  God  rested  the  seventh  day." 

This  has  elicited  various  explanations,  none  of 
which  appear  to  me  satisfactory.  Read,  however, 
in  the  light  of  the  other  statements,  the  difficulty 
vanishes. 

We  have  seen  that  the  announcements  of  the 
other  days  were  announcements  of  completion 
world-wide  as  to  the  extent  of  country  referred 
to,  while  from  the  nature  of  the  act,  only  mo- 
mentary as  to  the  time  occupied,  and  that  at  the 
instant  of  their  utterance,  literally  'twas  evening 
upon  one  side  of  the  globe  and  'twas  morning 
upon  the  other,  whatever  may  have  been  the  day, 
whether  the  second,  or  third,  or  sixth,  or  any 
other.  But  this  seventh  day  had  special  refer- 
ence to  man,  and  to  man  only,  and  it  was  not  an 
announcement  merely,  but  a  statement  of  a  fact 
5* 


106  ON   THE 

that  God  rested  from  his  work  a  day,  a  complete 
diurnal  revolution  of  the  earth.  Hence  the  length 
of  the  rest  was  indicated :  it  was  twenty-four  hours. 

Did,  then,  God  resume  his  work  on  the  next 
day? 

Moses  does  not  inform  us,  but  I  may  add  from 
another  source,  to  me  of  equal  authority,  that 
God's  work  is  yet  going  on.  "My  Father  work- 
eth  hitherto  and  I  work." 

Has  he,  then,  since  that  day,  created  new 
species  ?  The  written  Record  gives  no  answer. 

Other  questions  press  upon  me,  that  I  would 
most  gladly  answer,  but  I  have  reached  a  limit 
beyond  which  I  can  only  gaze. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   EVIDENCE   FURTHER   CONSIDERED 

AMONG  the  scientific  acquisitions  bearing 
testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  Mosaic  Narra- 
tive, I  have  mentioned  a  Law  of  Development. 

The  existence  of  such  "  a  mode  of  action  "  is 
so  clearly  indicated  in  Genesis,  and  at  the  same 
time  is  in  such  marked  opposition  to  the  belief  of 
all  the  world  until  a  quite  recent  period,  that  it  is 
well  worth  thoughtful  consideration. 

By  this  Law  of  Development,  I  understand  that 
matter  passes  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  state  of 
utility  or  beauty,  not  by  one  vast  bound,  as  in 
Eastern  stories  palaces  are  reared  by  magic,  but 
by  a  longer  or  shorter  series  of  progressive  acts, 
often  too  close  to  be  observed,  although  at  other 
times  easily  distinguished.  Such  development 
may  occur  under  the  influence  of  law  apart  from 
intelligence,  as  when  the  atoms  in  a  solution 
arrange  themselves  in  certain  fixed  lines  or  axes  to 
form  crystals.  Or  it  may  occur  under  the  guid- 
ance of  intelligence,  as  when  a  chemist  separates 
silver  from  argentiferous  lead  by  crystallizing  the 
baser  metal ;  or  in  a  higher  and  more  complete 
form,  as  when  the  western  pioneer  develops  the 


108  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

virgin  forest  into  farms  and  cities.  The  last  is  the 
species  of  Development  to  which  the  Mosaic  Ac- 
count of  Creation  points,  differing,  however,  in 
degree  as  the  Actor  in  the  latter  differs  from  the 
western  pioneer. 

It  does  not  properly  come  within  the  limits 
of  this  discussion  to  draw  the  line  between  this 
law  of  Development  and  that  protean  something 
known  as  Evolution.  Indeed  it  is  very  difficult  to 
find  any  definition  that  covers  the  whole  subject, 
each  writer  having  his  own.  If  I  might  venture 
to  add  my  quota,  I  would  say,  Development  is  pro- 
gress under  control  of  intelligence,  and  Evolution 
is  progress  under  the  action  of  forces  with,  or 
without,  intelligence.  Others  use  these  words  as 
synonymous. 

"  Evolution,"  at  least  in  the  hands  of  some, 
ignores  all  intelligence,  and  runs  counter  to  that 
consciousness  which  to  each  man  is,  for  Kim,  the 
highest  of  all  evidence.  It  denies  all  freedom  of 
will,  and  obliterates  all  distinctions  between  right 
wrong. 

But  a  Law  of  Development,  as  I  have  defined 
it,  admits  all  the  conditions  of  the  problem  of  life. 
Subordinate  to  intelligence  and  will,  it  accords 
with  what  consciousness  tells  me  of  my  own 
actions. 

The  Mosaic  Cosmogony  is  a  sublime  illustration, 
of  this  Law. 

It  represents  the  world  at  first  without  form 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  109 

or  solidity,  void  and  dark ;  then,  vivified  by  mo- 
tion, it  became  self-luminous.  To  this  succeeded 
a  non-luminous  or  planetary  condition  with  days 
and  nights.  A  deposition  of  water  marks  a  fur- 
ther advance. 

The  continents  next  "appear;"  then  a  vege- 
tation "  of  grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit  trees  "  marks 
the  culmination  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  in  spe- 
cies most  needed  for  the  use  of  man.  After  this, 
occurs  a  climatic  change  from  the  monotonous  uni- 
formity of  the  ante-glacial  period,  to  the  pleasing 
vicissitudes  of  seasons,  the  varying  length  of  days, 
and  the  long,  bright  moonlight  of  winter  nights. 
Animal  life  then  culminates  in  the  fauna  of  to-day. 
Last  and  crown  of  all,  man  appears,  with  faculties 
capable  of  dominating  all  animate  nature,  and  of 
making  moral  and  intellectual  progress  as  yet  un- 
limited. 

Here  clearly  is  growth  and  progress,  with  a 
unity  of  plan  that  characterizes  what  in  all  other 
matters  we  style  intelligence. 

For  this  order  and  slow  growth  I  can  see  no 
reason  save  in  the  will  of  the  Great  First  Cause. 
Had  such  been  his  pleasure,  I  can  see  no  good 
reason  why  our  world  had  not  been  at  once  called 
into  perfect  existence. 

I  venture  to  believe  in  this  controlling  Intelli- 
gence, notwithstanding  the  high  authority  of  Mr. 
Herbert  Spencer,  who  assures  us  that  the  propo- 
sition that  "  an  originating  Mind  is  the  Cause  of 


110  GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 

Evolution"  can  be  entertained  so  long  only  as 
"  no  attempt  is  made  to  unite  in  thought  its  two 
terms  in  the  alleged  relation."  *  This  test  de- 
stroys at  once  all  idea  of  an  "  originating  Mind." 
It  bids  me  believe  that  the  cathedral  at  Milan  is 
not  the  creation  of  the  "  originating  mind "  of 
the  architect,  but  simply  the  work  of  undirected 
forces,  a  kind  of  crystallization,  for  I  cannot,  even 
"  in  a  dim  way,  connect  his  successive  states  of 
consciousness  "  with  that  elaborate  structure.  I 
cannot  "unite  in  thought"  the  titillations  of  the 
expanded  end  of  the  optic  nerve,  with  the  beauties 
of  the  landscape,  nor  the  beating  of  aerial  waves 
against  the  drum  of  my  ear,  with  the  enjoyment 
of  hearing.  Yet,  unable  as  I  am,  "  even  in  a  dim 
way,"  "  to  unite  the  two  terms  in  the  alleged  re- 
lation," I  know  it  exists.  Science  acknowledges 
it,  and  rejects  the  proposed  text. 

Nor  is  there  necessarily  involved,  in  the  idea 
of  a  personal  God,  the  apparent  absurdity  which 
Mr.  Spencer  claims,  to  wit,  that  a  "  single  se- 
ries of  states  of  consciousness  causes  the  hundred 
thousand  waves  that  are  at  this  moment  curling 

*  Compare  this  assertion  of  Mr.  Spencer  with  the  state- 
ments of  another  equally  high  authority  in  the  same  school. 
I  refer  to  the  statements  already  quoted  from  Prof.  Tyndall's 
Address  before  the  British  Association. 

As  far  as  I  can  discover,  it  is  the  originating  Mind  that 
these  gentlemen  (or  at  least  Mr.  Spencer)  object  to.  Call  it 
an  originating  "  Power"  with  Prof.  Tyndall,  or  "  Ultimate 
Power  "  with  Mr.  Spencer,  and  their  objections  vanish. 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  Ill 

over  on  the  shores  of  England."  In  a  sense  this 
is  no  absurdity.* 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  a  pin  machine  is  the 
product  of  "  an  originating  mind."  "  A  series  of 
states  of  consciousness"  was  the  cause  of  the 
original  machine,  and  of  all  others  like  it,  as  well 
as  of  each  movement  resulting  in  the  formation  of 
one  pin  or  a  million.  Yet  we  need  not,  and  do 
not,  conceive  of  the  inventor  as  himself  pointing 
and  heading  each  one.  Mind  not  only  was  the 
cause  of  the  machine,  but  Mind  sets  it  in  motion 
in  the  morning,  and  stops  it  at  night.  During 
the  hours  of  work,  Mind  is  not  apparent,  save  as 
\\  (  inter  its  action  from  the  perfect  adaptation  of 
the  whole  to  the  end  in  view.  Yet  the  eye  of  the 

*  Revelation  tells  us,  "  Not  a  sparrow  falleth  to  the 
ground  without  your  Father,"  and  "  Not  one  of  them  is  for- 
gotten before  God,"  which  Mr.  Spencer  would  tell  us  is  ab- 
surd. But  he  would  see  no  absurdity,  but  a  physical  fact,  in 
the  assertion  that  every  atom  in  the  falling  sparrow  affects, 
not  merely  every  atom  in  our  earth,  and  the  immense  sun, 
and  the  more  distant  planets,  but  the  remotest  fixed  star 
whose  light,  winged  at  its  creation,  still  speeding  on  its  way, 
has  yet  to  reach  our  earth.  Light,  inconceivably  swift,  is 
laggard  in  comparison.  Laplace  tells  us  that  if  gravitation 
be  not  absolutely  instantaneous,  it  speeds  with  a  velocity  at 
least  50,000,000  greater  than  that  of  light. 

The  light  from  the  nearest  fixed  star  requires  three  years 
to  reach  us.  Over  that  inconceivable  space,  ere  one's  pulse 
had  beaten  twice,  gravitation  would  carry  the  impulse  of 
that  sparrow's  fall.  This  physical  fact  is  inexpressibly  the 
more  difficult  to  believe. 

The  Christian  Scientist  receives  both. 


112  GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 

Master  is  upon  every  part,  and  the  hand  of  intelli- 
gence is  prompt  to  guide  and  control.  Waste, 
damage,  utter  ruin  would  soon  mark  their  absence. 

In  this  Narrative,  God  is  represented  as  build- 
ing and  setting  in  operation  the  machinery  of  our 
world.  A  series  of  Divine  acts  is  recorded,  and 
thenceforward  "  God  rested  from  all  his  work 
which  he  had  been  making,"  and  it  moves  on  of 
itself,  although  the  eye  of  the  Master  is  ever 
upon  it,  and  his  hand  ready  for  all  needed  inter- 
ference. 

The  Mosaic  view  of  God's  part  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  Universe  is  this:  He  created 
matter  and  imparted  motion,  i.  e.  the  forces  pro- 
ducing motion.  These  forces  are  sometimes  re- 
presented as  working  in  obedience  to  command,  as 
when  God  said,  Let  there  be  light.  Sometimes 
he  is  represented  as  directly  acting.  Hence  the 
Narrative  speaks  of  God's  creating ;  of  things 
formed  without  cause  assigned  ;  of  things  formed 
by  or  out  of  matter  in  obedience  to  his  word. 

Thus  in  the  first  verse  God  creates;  in  the 
third,  God  commands  the  light  to  be ;  but  in  the 
fourth,  God  divides  the  light  from  the  darkness ; 
and  in  the  seventh,  again,  God  made  the  firma- 
ment. In  the  ninth  verse,  natural  forces  only  are 
spoken  of :  God  said,  Let  the  dry  land  appear ; 
so  in  the  eleventh,  he  commands  the  earth  to 
bring  forth  grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit  trees,  and  in 


IIIK    NEW    WITNESSES.  113 

the  next  we  are  told,  the  earth  brought  them 
forth.* 

In  the  fourteenth  verse  God  commands  such 
changes  to  occur  as  produced  seasons  and  varying 
length  of  days  ;  but  in  the  sixteenth  it  is  said,  God 
made  the  heavenly  bodies  and  appointed  them  to 
their  several  offices.  Then  in  verses  twenty  and 
twenty-one,  there  is  a  crossing  and  recrossing  of 
the  thread.  "  God  said,  Let  the  waters  bring 
forth,"  and,  God  created  the  animals  which  the 
waters  brought  forth. 

A  similar  intermingling  of  the  natural  and  the 
supernatural  is  found  in  verses  24  and  25.  God 
>aid.  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  beasts  and  cattle, 
and  then  the  account  says,  God  made  them.  Again, 
in  the  following  verses,  God  appears  as  the  sole 
creator.  "  Let  us  make  man,"  and  "  so  God  created 
man." 

In  this  Narrative,  Creation  and  Development 
meet.  The  two  ideas  are  so  interwoven  that 
separation  is  impossible,  without  mutual  destruc- 
tion. 

The  following  seems  a  correct  analysis  of  the 

*  I  follow  the  received  version  in  the  use  of  the  formula. 
"  Let  there  be,,"  '  Let  the  earth  bring  forth,"  etc.,  although 
the  Hebrew  has  for  this,  properly,  only  the  simple  future 
tense.  It  is  rather  the  announcement  that  something  will 
or  shall  occur,  than  a  command  to  the  thing  itself. 

Such  is  the  wonderful  advantage  of  a  purely  phenomenal 
statement,  that  the  Greek,  Latin,  and  English  translators 
have  been  unable  to  seriously  warp  the  text. 


114:  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

ante-human  history  of  our  globe,  as  given  by  Moses, 
and  read  in  the  light  of  present  knowledge. 

It  assumes  as  a  truth  that  admits  of  no  ques- 
tion, that  the  cause  of  all  things  is  that  Being 
whom  we  call  God.  Then  follows  the  broad  asser- 
tion, taking  in  the  material  universe,  that  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  Immediately 
following  is  a  characteristic  description  of  the 
primordial  condition  of  our  earth  as  nebulous,  L  e. 
cloudlike,  "  without  form  and  void,"  and  by  a 
masterly  stroke  is  revealed  the  fact  that  our  earth 
was  yet  an  integral  portion  of  the  Cosmic  mass, 
for  "  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,"  i.  e. 
it  was  prior  to  the  formation  of  light,  which  we 
now  know  occurred  before  the  segregation  of  our 
world.  It  tells  us  that  motion  came  from  that  same 
First  Cause,  was  communicated  to  the  inert  mass, 
and  that  not  till  after  motion  did  light  appear. 

Again,  a  master-stroke,  and  the  statement  that 
"  God  divided  the  light  from  the  darkness,"  like 
a  flash  of  lightning  in  a  dark  night,  enables  us 
to  take  our  bearings,  and  we  find  the  nebulous 
condition  ended,  the  earth  a  solid,  non-luminous 
body. 

Once  more  the  scene  lights  up,  and  the  dash- 
ing waters  below,  the  clouds  above,  and  the  open 
space  between,  tell  us  that  the  world  has  reached 
a  temperature  when  life  begins  to  be  possible. 

Next  the  Continents  are  upheaved,  and  the 
seas  gathered  into  their  appointed  places. 


TIM;  NEW  WITNESSES.  115 

Vegetable  life,  which  began  so  early,  culminated 
in  grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit  trees,  in  the  same  epoch 
in  which  the  Continents  reached  their  full  devel- 
opment, marking,  too,  the  close  of  the  ancient  type 
of  climate. 

In  the  next  epoch,  whatever  may  have  occurred, 
this  much  is  certain,  that  the  world  came  out  of  it 
with  the  modern  type  of  climate,  the  intense  heat 
of  summer  sharply  contrasting  with  the  cold  of 
winter. 

Following  this  climatic  change  was  a  fauna 
characterized  by  fowl  and  water  creatures,  which 
the  waters  brought  forth  abundantly. 

Afterward,  the  land  fauna  culminated  in  "the 
beasts,  cattle  and  creeping  things  "  of  species  now 
living. 

During  this  last  epoch  man  appeared. 

If  this  is  a  correct  analysis  of  the  statements 
recorded  in  Genesis,  how,  I  would  ask  Prof.  Tyn- 
dall,  are  "our  ideas  of  the  Universe  and  its 
Author  improved  by  the  abandonment  of  the 
Mosaic  Account  of  Creation  t" 

Nay,  in  all  seriousness  I  would  ask,  does  not 
"  the  abandonment  of  the  Mosaic  Account  of 
Creation"  necessitate  the  abandonment  of  Science 
itself? 

Surely  the  Nebular  Hypothesis  is  utterly  ex- 
ploded, if  the  earth  was  never  "  without  form  and 
void." 

The  Correlation  of  Forces  is  only  a  beautiful 


116  GENESIS    AND   SCIENCE. 

figment  of  the  imagination,  if  Moses  did  not  record 
a  physical  truth  when  he  wrote  that,  prior  to  mo- 
tion, "  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep." 

The  Undulatory  Theory  of  Light  must  fall 
with  the  Correlation  of  Forces,  if  it  is  not  true,  as 
Moses  says,  that  light  in  order  of  time  came  after 
the  impartation  of  motion. 

The  laws  of  heat,  the  expansion  of  water  into 
vapor,  the  capacity  of  gases  for  moisture,  as  af- 
fected by  temperature,  all  are  a  delusion,  if  the 
oceans  were  not  once  suspended  above  the  earth 
in  the  atmosphere,  and  if  it  is  not  true,  as  Moses 
says,  that  there  came  a  time  when  "  an  open  space 
(firmament)  divided  the  waters  which  were  under 
it  from  the  waters  above  it." 

The  record  of  Geology  is  a  series  of  "  beautiful 
myths  and  stories,"  if  Genesis  is  romancing  when 
it  says  the  development  of  the  continents  was 
subsequent  to  the  deposition  of  the  waters. 

Geography  has  egregiously  blundered  if  Gene- 
sis is  wrong  when  it  asserts  that  the  waters  were 
gathered  into  "one place." 

Physical  Geography  is  unreliable  if  Moses  errs 
when  he  wrote  that  the  arrangement  of  the  land 
and  the  water  was  "  good." 

Geology  deserves  to  be  classed  with  the  eifete 
Sciences  found  in  the  sacred  books  of  the  Hindus, 
if  it  be  a  physical  falsehood  that  the  completion 
of  the  emergence  of  the  land  occurred  in  the 
same  epoch  as  the  culmination  of  the  vegetable 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  117 

kingdom  in  Angiosperms  and  Palms,  that  is  in 
"  the  tree  yielding  fruit  whose  seed  is  in  itself." 

"Uniformity  of  Law"  is  as  baseless  as  Geo- 
logy, if  the  uniform  types  of  plants  "luxuriantly 
flourishing"  in  all  latitudes  prior  to  the  comple- 
tion of  the  land  and  culmination  of  vegetation 
(toward  the  end  of  the  Tertiary)  do  not  indicate 
a  climate  differing  exceedingly  in  the  uniformity 
of  light  and  heat  from  the  climate  of  to-day. 

Does,  then,  Moses  err  when  he  says  that  after 
that  epoch  the  sun  and  moon  were  to  be  for  signs 
and  for  seasons,  for  days  and  for  years  ? 

If  so,  then  Geology  has  again  proved  its  own 
unreliability,  for  it  certainly  has  told  us  that  in 
those  earlier  days  there  were  "no  zones  of, cli- 
mate," and  I  think  the  evidence  abundant  that 
there  were  no  zones  of  light.  Certainly  there 
were  no  seasons. 

Geology  tells  of  a  period  of  intense  cold,  when 
ice  covered  the  earth  from  the  poles  far  down 
toward  the  equator,  and  that  this  followed  the 
period  of  vegetable  culmination.  After  the  Cli- 
matic change  Moses  places  a  fauna  of  water  crea- 
tures and  fowl.  If  Moses  errs  here,  then  Uni- 
formity of  Law  is  an  unsafe  guide  or  the  accounts 
of  the  Circumpolar  fauna  are  false. 

The  record  of  Geology  is  not  true  if  Moses 
errs  when  he  places  the  development  of  Hiring 
cattle  and  beasts,  and  many  other  creatures, 
subsequent  to  "grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit  trees," 


118  GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 

subsequent  to  the  climatic  change  introducing 
seasons  and  "zones  of  climate,"  subsequent  to  the 
post-glacial  water  fauna. 

Paleontology  is  not  a  true  Witness  if  "living 
species  offish,  reptile,  bird,  or  mammal,"  were  in 
existence  before  or  during  the  epoch  of  grasses, 
herbs,  and  fruit  trees,  or  before  the  epoch  of  cli- 
matic change. 

Gravity  and  Optics,  the  one  claiming  through 
mathematical  Astronomy  to  demonstrate  the  el- 
liptic orbits  of  the  Stars,  the  other,  through  the 
Spectroscope,  professing  to  give  us  reliable  infor- 
mation as  to  their  constitution,  have  joined  this 
conspiracy  to  deceive  mankind ;  nay,  the  very 
elements  have  abetted  the  plot  by  wilfully  giving 
spectrum-lines  identical  with  those  from  the  Stars, 
if  it  be  false  that  the  "  Stars  also  "  have  the  same 
origin  as  the  Sun,  Moon  and  Earth. 

However  much  the  reader  may  reject  from 
what  is  here  claimed  to  be  the  teachings  of 
Science,  enough  will  remain  to  justify  the  asser- 
tion that  Astronomy,  Geology,  and  every  branch 
of  knowledge  bearing  upon  the  origin,  early  con- 
dition, and  order  of  development  of  our  world, 
must  be  placed  among  "  the  myths  and  beautiful 
stories  "  of  the  past,  if  the  statements  recorded  by 
Moses  are  false. 

Science  cannot  reject  this  Narrative  without 


committing  SUICIDE. 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  119 


COMPARISON  OF  THE  TWO  RECORDS. 


To  aid  in  comparing  the  two  Records,  1  have 
placed  in  parallel  columns  the  facts  ascertained  by 
Scientists  and  the  statements  made  by  Moses.  In 
both  are  great  blank  intervals.  Where  these  oc- 
cur only  in  Genesis  I  have  written  under  that 
column  "silent,"  where  they  occur  in  both  I  have 
made  no  remark. 

The  harmony  between  the  two  becomes  the 
more  wonderful  when  we  reflect  that  the  men  who 
made  these  discoveries  wi-iv  unconscious  of  their 
bearing  upon  the  Bible  account,  and  too  often 
thought  they  were  diligently  and  successfully 
laboring  for  its  overthrow. 

The  history  of  the  Earth  may  properly  be 
divided  into  two  grand  Periods,  the  Cosmic  and 
the  Telluric.  The  former  is  equally  applicable  to 
all  the  systems  in  the  Universe.  The  latter  I 
have  subdivided  into  two  portions,  of  which  the 
first  is,  in  like  manner,  the  history  of  all  systems 
where  planets  have  been  evolved.  The  second  is 
the  development  of  our  own  world,  and  is  ap- 
plicable to  no  other  planet. 


120 


GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 


THE  COSMIC   PERIOD. 


AS  TO  THE  ORIGIN  OF  MATTER. 


What  Scientists  say : 

The  Universe  is  not  eternal.  It 
has  its  origin  in  the  "  First  Cause," 
or  "the  Unknown  Source  of 
things."  (Herbert  Spencer.) 

Tyndall  says :  "A  Power  in- 
scrutable to  the  human  intellect. 
There  is  no  very  rank  materialism 
here." 


What  Genesis  says : 
Ver.  1.    In  the  beginning  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 


ITS  PRIMORDIAL  CONDITION. 


The  earth  (and  solar  system) 
was,  at  first,  a  nebulous,  i.  e.  cloud- 
like,  mass,  not  solid,  but  mobile. 


Ver.  2.  The  earth  was  without 
form,  and  void.  (Not  solid,  but 
easily  flowing,  translated  by  "wa- 
ters.") 


AS  TO  LIGHT. 

Prior  to  motion  light  was  im~  I       Darkness  was  upon  the  face  of 
possible ;      darkness      enveloped    the  deep, 
everything. 


AS  TO  THE  ORIGIN  OF  FORCES  AND  MOTION. 


Nothing  is  known  of  this.  It 
can  only  be  referred  to  the  same 
First  Cause,  "  the  Unknown  Source 


of     things"  — the 
Power." 


'  Inscrutable 


The  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon 
the  face  of  the  waters  (i.  e.  the 
flowing  mobile  mass). 


The  first  visible  effect  of  motion 
was  the  giving  forth  of  light. 

It  was  perfect. 


AS  TO  EFFECT  OF  MOTION. 

Ver.  3.  And  there  was  light. 


God  saw  it  was  good. 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES. 


121 


THE  TELLURIC   PERIOD 

DIVIDED  INTO  TWO  PABTS. 

1.  THE  ANTE-LIFE  PERIOD,  OR  IGNEOUS  PERIOD. 

2.  THE  LIFE  PERIOD,  OR  AQUEOUS  PERIOD. 


ANTE-LIFE  PERIOD. 

IGNEOUS  ACTION  DOMINANT. 
The  earth  was  segregated  from        Silent, 
the  great  Cosmic,  Nebulous  Mass, 
and  axial  revolution  began. 

After  this  segregation  our  world         Silent. 
was  a  luminous  vapor,  or  a  comet, 
then  a  sphere  of  molten  lava,  con- 
tiiiuing  in  each  condition  to  emit 
light,  as  do  Jupiter  and  Saturn  now. 

The  continued  radiation  of  the  Silent, 
earth's  heat  reduced  its  tempera- 
ture at  last,  so  far  that  a  crust  was 
formed  on  its  surface,  which,  after 
a  sufficient  time,  entirely  stopped 
the  radiation  of  light. 

DAY  AND  NIGHT  EPOCH. 
After  this,  for  the  first  time  in        Ver.  4.    And   God   divided  the 


the  history  of  our  planet,  light 
ceased  to  be  universal,  and  there 
was  a  division  between  the  light 
and  the  darkness,  caused,  as  now, 
by  the  opaque  body  of  the  earth. 

This  was  the  beginning  (not  of 
axial  revolution,  but)  of  Day  and 
Night.  On  the  light  side  of  the 
earth  it  was  day  while  on  the  oppo- 
site it  was  night. 

In  the  earliest  epochs,  the  days 
and  nights  were  equal. 

6 


light  from  the  darkness. 


Ver.  5.  And  God  called  the  light 
Day,  and  the  darkness  he  called 
Night. 


The  evening  was  (equal  to  one 
day)  and  the  morning  was  (equal  to) 
one  day. 


122 


GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 


CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH  IN  THE  INTERVAL  BETWEEN 
THE  BEGINNING  OF  DAYS  AND  NIGHTS  AND  THE  DE- 
POSITION OF  WATER. 


For  an  unknown  length  of  time 
the  surface  of  the  earth  was  too 
hot  for  the  water  to  descend  upon 
it,  even  as  rain  ;  but  at  last  the 
super-heated  invisible  vapor  be- 
came clouds  or  mist. 


Chap.  2.  Vv.  5,  6.  "  When  the 
LORD  God  had  not  caused  it  to  rain 
upon  the  earth,  but  there  went  up 
a  mist  from  the  earth  and  watered 
the  whole  face  of  the  ground." 


LIFE   PERIOD. 

Geology  tells  of  two  divisions  of  our  world's  ante-human 
history  :  the  first  characterized  by  uniformity  of  climate  ; 
the  second  by  variety. 

THE  FIRST  OR  UNIFORM  CLIMATE  PERIOD. 

AQUEOUS  ACTION  BECOMES  DOMINANT. 


Continued  cooling  at  last 
brought  a  temperature  sufficiently 
low  to  permit  the  waters  to  be 
deposited  and  remain  upon  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  and  in  conse- 
quence the  air  became  so  far  cleared 
that  the  clouds  were  confined  to  its 
upper  region,  leaving  an  open  space 
below  them,  and  above  the  all-cov- 
ering ocean. 

Although  this  was  done,  yet 
from  this  time  to  a  far  later  period, 
certainly  till  after  the  Carbonifer- 
ous Age,  the  purification  of  the 
atmosphere  was  too  incomplete  to 
permit  the  higher  orders  of  animals 
to  breathe  it. 


After  this  deposition,  the  air, 
although  loaded  with  carbonic  acid, 
was  sufficiently  clear  to  permit  the 
free  transmission  of  light,  and  for 
the  first  time  the  glories  of  the  sky 
were  visible  from  the  earth's  sur- 
face. The  deposition  affected  both 
hemispheres. 


Ver.  7.  And  God  made  an  open 
space  (or  expanse)  and  divided  the 
waters  that  were  under  the  open 
space  from  the  waters  which  were 
above  the  expanse. 


"And  it  was  so." 

Note  the  absence  of  the  usual 
formula  of  perfect  completion.  It 
is  not  pronounced  "good."  The 
writer  merely  adds,  "  and  it  was 
so,"  i.  e.  the  open  space  was  formed 
and  the  waters  were  deposited.  He 
thus  avoids  chronological  overlap- 
ping. 

Ver.  8.  And  God  called  the  open 
expanse  heaven. 


"Twas  evening  and  'twas  morn- 
ing, the  second  day. 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES. 


123 


After  this  the  continents  were 
upheaved*  and  the  seas  gathered 
into  their  pi. i 

The  la iid  is  made  up  of  large  and 
small  portions  separated  from  each 
other  by  seas ;  but  tke  waters,  both 
seas  and  oceans,  are  really  only  one 
great  body,  with  names  for  differ- 
ent parts. 

The  arrangement  of  the  land  and 
water  is  surpassingly  wise. 

During  the  ever-growing  "ap- 
pearance "  of  the  dry  land  the  world 
was  well  peopled  with  the  strange 
old  forms  of  ancient  life.  Unnum- 
bered races  of  plants  and  animals 
appeared,  flourished,  and  disap- 
peared, in  an  upward  progre- 

At  last  vegetation  reached  its 
culmination  in  the' 'grasses,  1 
and  fruit  trees.'* 


The  highest  order  of  plants  is 
the  Angiosperms,  which,  bear  a 
fruit  enclosing  the  seed. 


Ver.  9.  God  said,  Let  the  wa- 
ters under  the  heaven  be  gathered 
into  one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land 
appear. 

Ver.  9.  God  said,  Let  the  waters 
under  the  heaven  be  gathered  into 
one  place. 


Ver.  10.   And  God  saw  it  was 
good. 

8  Lieut. 


Ver.  12.  And  the  earth  brought 
forth  «rasp,  and  the  herb  yielding 
seed  after  his  kind,  and  the  tree 
.yielding  fruit  whose  seed  was  in  it- 
self, after  his  kind. 

Culmination  in  the ''tree  yield- 
ing fruit,  the  seed  of  which  was  in 
it." 


*  •'  Upheaved."  Thus  I  wrote,  but  on  reflection  I  saw  physical  objec- 
tions to  the  word  which,  by  a  better  selection,  the  author  of  Genesis  had 
avoided. 

The  Record  of  the  Rocks  plainly  intimates  that  the  elevation  of  the 
dry  land  was  no  sudden  movement,  but  had  been  going  on  during  the 
previous  epochs  of  cooling  surface  and  falling  water.  When  Geology 
first  takes  account  of  the  continents,  they  are  already  lofty  submarine 
plateaux,  with  here  and  there  a  projecting  point  of  azoic  rock,  and 
needed  to  continue  their  upward  movement  at  most  a  few  hundred  feet 
in  order  "  to  appear." 

I  have  left  the  word  as  I  wrote  it,  since  it  illustrates  the  surpassingly 
wise  choice  of  words  in  the  Mosaic  Account.  How  wise  that  is  can  never 
be  fully  known  until  we  know  all  the  facts  of  the  earth's  primeval  his- 
tory. 


124 


GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 


These  two  great  events,  to  wit, 
the  completion  of  the  continents  in 
their  full  development,  and  the  pre- 
ponderance of  grasses,  herbs,  and 
fruit  trees,  occurred  in  the  same 
Geologic  Period,  the  Pliocene. 

These  events  affected  both  hemi- 
spheres. 


Vv.  9-13.  The  Author  has 
placed  these  events  in  the  same 
period,  for  after  announcing  the 
verdict  of  completion  he  names  but 
one  day,  "  the  third,"  in  reference 
to  both. 

'Twas  evening  and  'twas  morn- 
ing the  third  day. 


LIFE   PERIOD. 

THE    SECOND  PART  OF  THE  LIFE    PERIOD,  OR   THAT 
CHARACTERIZED  BY  VARIETY  OF  CLIMATE. 


After  the  Pliocene  came  the 
epoch  of  the  Glaciers. 

During  its  continuance  such 
changes  occurred  as  resulted  in  the 
modern  type  of  climate  with  sea- 
sons and  unequal  days  and  nights, 
the  former  giving  an  easy  and  na- 
tural measurement  of  years. 

The  Sun  and  Moon  are  not  in 
themselves  lights  in  the  sense  in 
which  "Light"  is  used  in  Ver.  3, 
as  most  ancient  and  mediaeval  phi- 
losophers believed. 

The  obliquity  of  the  Earth's 
axis,  the  cause  of  seasons  and  un- 
equal days  and  nights,  does  not 
affect  the  length  of  a  lunar  revolu- 
tion. 

The  lines  of  the  spectroscope, 
as  well  as  the  forms  of  the  stellar 
orbits,  show  that  the  stars  are  com- 
posed of  the  same  materials,  and 
are  subject  to  the  same  laws,  as 
our  earth,  moon,  and  sun,  and 
hence  have  a  common  origin. 

This  change  affected  both  hemi- 
spheres. 

During  the  decadence  of  the 
Glaciers,  the  conditions  of  moisture 


Silent. 

Ver.  14.  And  God  said,  Let  the 
lights  in  the  firmament  of  heaven  be 
to  divide  between  the  day  and  the 
night,  and  let  them  be  for  signs  and 
for  seasons,  and  for  days  and  years 
.  .  .  and  it  was  so. 

Light  givers,  light  emitters, 
light  bearers. 


By  what  would  once  have  seemed 
an  unnatural  omission  of  months, 
the  Author  avoids  a  blunder  and 
shows  his  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  subject. 

Ver.  16.  And  God  made  two 
lights  (the  greater  light  to  rule  the 
day,  the  lesser  light  to  rule  tho 
night).  He  made  the  stars  also. 


'Twas  evening  and  'twas  morn- 
ing the  fourth  day. 

Silent. 


THE  NEW   WITNESSES. 


125 


and  temperature  mast  have  been 
nearly  identical  with  those  which 
now  exist  in  frigid  or  sab-frigid 
regions.  Hence,  in  harmony  with 
Uniformity  of  Law,  we  should  ex- 
pect a  fauna  similar  to  that  now 
found  in  such  places,  i.  e.  an  abun- 
dance of  fish,  sea-mammalia,  fowl, 
and  tiny  moluske. 

Although,    at   firet,  the   fauna 
mast  have  been  solely  sub-frigid 
or  frigid,  yet  as  warnit 
othrr  water  animals  and  other  birds 
made  their  appearance,  till 
.-•a   now  living    occupi 
proper  place. 

This  stage  of  progress  affected 
both  hemispheres. 

The  waters,  daring  the  period  of 
the  melting  glaciers,  were  compara- 
tively soon  ready  for  animal  life, 
but  the  land  required  a  longer  time 
for  preparation.  It  is  therefore 
certain  that  land  animals,  such  as 
the  cattle  and  beasts  of  to-day,  ap- 
peared after  the  water  fauna.  In 
reference  to  man  and  his  interests, 
the  animal  world  culminates  in 
cattle,  beasts,  and  insect  life  of  to- 
day. 

Man  appeared  last,  and  is  supe- 
rior to  all.  He  is  gifted  with  intel- 
ligence and  moral  powers. 

It  is  impossible  to  overestimate 
the  excellence  and  wisdom  display- 
ed in  the  works  of  Creation. 

This  also  affected  both  hemi- 
spheres. 

No  new  animal  or  plant  has  ap- 
peared since  the  epoch  of  Man's 
Creation. 


Ver.  90.  God  said,  Let  the  wa- 
ters bring  forth  abundantly  the 
moving  creature  that  hath  life,  and 
fowl  that  may  fly  above  the  earih. 

Ver.  21.  And  Qod  created  great 
whales,  and  every  living  creature 
that  niovrth,  which  the  waters 
brought  forth  abundantly  after 
their  kind,  and  every  winged  fowl 
after  his  kind. 


'Twas  evening  and  'twas  morn- 
ing the  fifth  day. 


Ver.  25.  God  made  the  beast  of 
the  earth  after  his  kind,  and  cattle 
after  their  kind,  and  everything 
that  creepeth  upon  the  earth  after 
his  kind. 


At  the  very  end  of  all,  the  account 
says  :  "  So  God  created  man  in  his 
own  likeness." 

Ver.  31.  And  God  saw  every- 
thing that  he  had  made,  and  behold 
it  was  all  very  good. 

'Twas  evening  and  'twas  morn- 
ing the  sixth  day. 

Chap.  11.  Vv.  1,  2.  Thus  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  were  finished 
and  all  the  host  of  them.  And  on 
the  seventh  day  God  rested  from  all 
his  work  which  he  had  made. 


126  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

If  from  the  second  column  the  word  "  God  "  be 
struck  out,  and  an  abstraction  be  substituted  such 
as  "  Nature,"  or  "  Law,"  or  "  Evolution,"  or  that 
new  and  eminently  theophobic  word,  "  Dynamis," 
there  will  remain  an  account  of  the  early  history 
of  our  planet  from  the  stand-point  of  extreme 
Positivism,  in  language  at  once  simple,  exact,  and 
comprehensive. 

It  will  aid  in  estimating  the  value  of  the  evi- 
dence arising  from  the  identity  of  the  Science  of 
Genesis  with  the  latest  acquirements  of  the  Stu- 
dents of  Nature,  to  note  how  the  learning  of  a 
much  later  period  bears  the  test  of  new  discoveries. 

Some  fifty  years  ago,  the  learned  men  of  that 
day  essayed  to  write  a  work  which  should  include 
the  circle  of  knowledge.  They  produced  the 
Encyclopaedia  Britannica.  When  near  its  com- 
pletion four  or  five  men  distinguished  for  large 
acquirements  and  profound  intellects,  were  se- 
lected to  prepare  introductory  disquisitions  which 
should  embody  the  latest  results  and  the  choicest 
philosophy  of  the  age. 

Among  them  I  find  Sir  John  Leslie  thus  dis- 
coursing of  the  interior  of  our  earth  :  * 

"  The  vast  subterranean  cavity  (of  the  earth) 
must  be  filled  with  a  very  diffused  medium  of 
astonishing  elasticity.  The  only  fluid  of  which 
we  know,  possessing  this  characteristic  is  light. 
The  great  concavity  may  thus  be  filled  with  the 
*  Vol.  I.  Ency.  Brit.,  page  792. 


THE   NEW    WITNESSES.  127 

purest  ethereal  essence,  Light,  in  its  most  concen- 
trated state,  and  shining  with  intense  refulgence 
and  overpowering  splendor  "  ! 

Again  we  read,  "  But  scattered  over  the  im- 
mensity there  may  exist  bodies  which  by  their  mag- 
nitude and  predominant  attraction,  retain  or  re- 
call the  rays  of  light,  and  are  lost  in  solitude 
and  darkness.  Had  the  velocity  of  the  lumin- 
ous particles  not  exceeded  four  hundred  miles 
in  a  second,  we  should  never  have  enjoyed  the 
cheerful  beams  of  the  Sun.  They  would  have 
been  arrested  in  their  journey  and  drawn  back  to 
their  source  before  they  reached  the  planet  Mer- 
cury. A  star  similar  to  our  Sun,  and  having  a 
diameter  sixty-three  times  as  great,  would  entirely 
overpower  the  impetus  of  light"  ! ! 

If  anything  can  exceed  the  certainty  of  his 
conclusions,  it  is  the  exactness  of  his  mathematics ! 

Should  the  successors  of  such  theorizers  look 
down  upon  the  Bible,  and  by  their  surmises  and ' 
logic  bar  God  out  of  His  own  world  ?  reason  Him 
out  of  His  personality  ?  bind  Him  in  the  swad- 
dling-bands of  the  "Unconditioned,"  and  make 
Him  the  only  helpless  being  in  the  universe  ? 

Nay,  let  them  expend  some  of  their  acumen 
upon  this  fact,  that  a  Hebrew  prophet,  a  Hebrew 
Sheik  if  they  please,  amid  a  wandering,  pastoral, 
semi-barbarous  people,  wrote  from  the  depths  of 
his  own  consciousness,  or  from  a  supernatural 
source,  a  philosophical  treatise  so  profound  that 


128  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

no  plummet  has  sounded  it,  clear  as  the  waters 
from  a  spring,  broad  as  the  foundations  of  the 
universe. 

In  view  of  these  harmonies,  I  submit  that 
instead  of  "  new  meanings  being  necessary  to  make 
the  beautiful  myths  and  stories  of  the  Bible  square 
with  Science,"  *  the  necessity  has  always  been  on 
the  other  side,  and  Science  has  but  just  struggled 
into  a  position,  unwittingly  I  admit,  where  for  the 
first  time  since  her  birth  she  has  been  able  to  ap- 
proach the  heights  on  which  the  Author  of  this 
Narrative  stood  four  thousand  years  ago. 

Since  the  chaos  of  Scientific  Theories  has 
crystallized  into  an  order  that  accords  with  the 
opening  Chapter  of  the  Bible,  may  it  not  be  hoped, 
in  serious  parody  of  Prof.  TyndalPs  words,  that 
the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the  best  informed 
of  our  Philosophers  shall  admit  that  their  views 
of  the  Universe  and  its  Author  are  not  improved 
by  abandoning  the  Mosaic  Account  of  Creation? 

How 'far  Moses  himself  understood  the  full 
meaning  of  the  words  he  wrote,  it  does  not  per- 
tain to  my  argument  to  inquire. 

But  as  we  are  elsewhere  told,  the  sacred  writers 
desired  to  understand  those  things  whereof  they 
wrote,  so  I  doubt  not  Moses  learned  all  that  was 
then  possible. 

*  Tyndall,  Forms  of  Water,  page  150. 


RESUME    OF   GENESIS.  129 


RESUME. 

I  NOW  propose  to  tabulate  the  facts  plainly 
stated  in,  or  logically  deduced  from,  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis.  They  have  already  been  con- 
sidered in  detail. 

GOD  THE  SOURCE  AND  CREATOR. 

The  earth  had  a  beginning. 

Primordially  it  was  without  form,  void,  not 
solid. 

Prior  to  motion,  darkness  was  upon  the  whole. 

Motion  is  due  to  same  Power  as  matter. 

Light  the  first  visible  result  of  motion. 

Light  was  perfected  at  that  early  epoch. 

Light  divided  from  the  darkness,  by  the  non- 
luminous  earth. 

"  The  evening"  was  equal  to  "  the  morning ; " 
hence  the  earth's  axis  was  nearly  or  quite  perpen- 
dicular to  the  ecliptic.* 

This  division  of  light  from  darkness  was  the 
first  day  on  our  planet. 

The  water  was  deposited  and  the  air  became 
transparent. 

This  deposition  and  transparency  were  com 
pleted  for  all  the  globe  simultaneously. 

The  land  emerges. 

The  waters  were  gathered  into  one  place. 

*  See  Part  III. 
6* 


130  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

Vegetation  culminated  in  the  highest  orders. 

This  vegetation  (that  of  the  Pliocene)  was  one 
"  good  "  for  present  fauna,  and  was  completed  for 
the  whole  globe. 

These  two  events,  the  emergence  of  the  land, 
and  the  culmination  of  vegetation,  occurred  in  the 
same  epoch. 

A  great  climatic  change,  introducing  seasons, 
and  unequal  days  and  nights,  came  next. 

The  climatic  arrangement  (seasons,  etc.)  was 
then  perfected,  and  was  world-wide. 

The  Sun  and  Moon  are  not  concrete  masses  of 
light,  but  simply  luminaries.* 

The  stars  have  the  same  origin  as  the  Solar 
System. 

This  climatic  change  was  followed  by  a  fauna 
of  "  living  "  species  of  water  creatures  and  fowl. 

This  fauna  is  eminently  gifted  in  the  power  of 
abundantly  multiplying. 

This  fauna  was  then  completed. 

It  was  a  world-wide  completion. 

After  the  water  fauna  and  water  "fowl  ap- 
peared present  species  of  land  animals,  including 
the  living  beasts  and  cattle. 

This  fauna  was  eminently  "good."  ' 

This  introduction  of  modern  species  was  world- 
wide. 

MAN  APPEARS, 
and  is  the  world-wide  completion  of  the  whole. 

*  Compare  with  this  Sir  John  Leslie's  Science,  already 
quoted  from  the  British  Ency. 


RESUME    OF    GENESIS.  131 

A  cessation  of  new  developments,  whether  in- 
organic, vegetable,  or  animal. 

I  ask  the  reader's  careful  attention  to  these 
facts  in  the  light  of  all  the  Science  he  can  bring  to 
bear  upon  them  ;  and  while  I  dare  not  flatter  my- 
self that  my  analysis  is  in  each  particular  correct, 
yet,  after  all  deductions,  so  much  remains  as  to 
make  it  worthy  of  most  serious  consideration. 

These  statements  have  been  upon  the  Record 
nearly  four  thousand  years.  How  came  they 
there  ?  Moses  could  have  obtained  them  from  no 
human  source.  There  is,  therefore,  not  an  "  In- 
scrutable Power  "  merely,  but  a  Being  who  cares 
enough  for  Man  to  give  him  a  Revelation.  This 
Being  has  shown  himself  so  truthful  in  regard  to 
every  point  on  which  it  is  possible  to  test  his 
statements,  that  we  are,  by  the  laws  of  our  minds, 
compelled  to  receive  his  evidence  in  its  entirety, 
and  when  he  assures  us  that  it  is  a  personal  God 
that  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  there  is  no 
escaping  the  conclusion  that  this,  too,  is  truth. 


FACTS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  WORLD  DERIVED 
FROM  THE   TWO   RECORDS, 

Showing  the  Philosophical  division  into  six  great 
stages  of  development,  each  complete  in  itself. 

NOTE. — The  figures  in  brackets  refer  to  the 
corresponding  verses  in  Genesis. 


132  GENESIS  AND  SCIENCE. 

(1.)  GOD  THE  FIRST  CAUSE  AND  SOURCE. 

FIMST,  OJJ  PREPARATORY  EPOCH. 

(2.)  A  nebulous  mass,  without  form,  void, 
fluid,  inert,  dark.  Temperature  that  of  interstellar 
space. 

Motion  imparted.  Activity  commences.  Tem- 
perature rises. 

(4.)  The  nebulous  mass  emits  light.  Tempera- 
ture far  above  1000°. 

Nebula  becomes  spheroidal ;  revolution  com- 
mences. 

Planets  begin  to  be  evolved. 

Earth  and  Moon  take  form  as  a  nebulous  sphe- 
roid. 

The  Moon  segregated  from  the  earth ;  falling 
temperature. 

The  Earth  becomes  a  sphere  of  liquid  lava ; 
temperature  still  falling. 

The  Earth,  becoming  cooled  below  1000°,  is 
covered  with  a  dark,  solid  crust,  and  ceases  to 
emit  light. 

(4,  5.)  Day  and  night  begin  ;  are  equal.  Axis 
inclined  about  5°. 

This  marks  the  close  of  the  preparations  for  a 
true  (i.  e.  non-luminous)  planetary  development. 
The  "  One  day  "  of  Genesis. 

Close  of  First  Epoch,  or 

that  of  general  preparations.     No  new  creation 
since  of  matter  or  force. 


THE    SIX   EPOCHS   OF   CREATION.  133 

SECOND  EPOCH  BEGINS. 

Surface  temperature  below  1000°  and  still 
falling. 

Igneous  action  only.  Geological  Kecord  not 
yet  begun. 

Combined  igneous  and  aqueous  action.  Geol- 
ogy begins  in  Azoic  Rocks.  Temperature  falling 
toward  212°. 

(6,  7.)  Water  deposited.  Temperature  below 
212°.  The  air  becomes  transparent.  Light  begins 
to  act. 

This  ends  the  epoch,  as  is  announced, for  the 
entire  globe,  and  the  day  of  that  announcement  is 
thu  Second  Epochal  Day. 

Close  of  Second  Epoch, 

or  that  of  full  preparation  for  joint  action  of  water 
and  light.  Nothing  more  done  since  in  that  direc- 
tion. 

THIRD  EPOCH  BEGINS. 

Aqueous  action  dominant ;  climate  uniform 
from  pole  to  pole ;  temperature  below  212°,  and 
falling.  Stratified  Azoic  Rocks  forming. 

(9.)  Land  begins  to  appear,  and  about  the  same 
time  the  lowest  orders  of  animal  and.  vegetable 
life.  Carbonic  acid  is  taken  from  the  air  and 
deposited  as  coal  or  as  carbonates.  Archaic  and 
Paleozoic  fossiliferous  strata  form. 

Emergence  of  the  land  continues  ;  organic  life 
expands  into  the  first  development  of  Angiosperms 


134  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

and  Palms.  Cretaceous  Period.  Temperature 
tropical. 

(10-12.)  Land  fully  developed.  Waters  all 
connected  into  one. 

Vegetation  fully  developed  in  predominance  of 
grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit  trees  (Angiosperms  and 
Palms).  Latter  part  of  the  Tertiary  Period. 

Temperature  moderate  ;  as  yet  no  seasons. 

The  day  of  the  announcement  of  these  last  de- 
velopments, world-wide  in  its  extent,  was  the  third 
Epochal  Day. 

Close  of  Third  Epochf  or 

that  of  inorganic  and  vegetable  development.  No 
continental  development  and  no  higher  orders  of 

vegetation  since. 

• 

FOURTH  EPOCH  BEGINS. 

Temperature  rapidly  falls  to  below  32°,  The 
end  of  ancient  type  of  climate. 

(14-18.)  Era  of  axial  (or  other  change)  pre- 
paratory for  and  introducing  modern  type  of 
climate,  with  seasons  and  unequal  days  and  nights. 
Glacial  Period.  (16.)  NOTE.  He  who  made  the 
Sun,  Moon,  and  Earth,  made  the  Stars  also. 

(19.)  The  day  of  the  announcement  of  com- 
pletion of  preparations  for  modern  type  of  climate 
(axis  inclined  23  J°),  extending  over  the  whole 
Earth,  was  the  fourth  Epochal  Day. 

Close  of  Fourth  Epoch,  or 

that  of  Climatic  development.  No  chnnge  since 
in  that  direction. 


THE   SIX    EPOCUS   OF    CREATION.  135 

FIFTH  EPOCH  BEGINS. 

(20-22.)  The  ice  of  the  Glaciers  begins  to 
melt.  Close  of  Glacial  Period  and  beginning  of 
Chainplain  Period. 

(25.)  Appearance  of  fauna  of  "  living  "  water 
creatures  and  fowl.  Announcement  of  comple- 
tion of  "  development  "  of  water  creatures  and 
fowl  for  all  the  world. 

The  day  in  which  this  was  done  was  the  fifth 
Epochal  Day. 

Close  of  Fifth  Epoch,  or 

that  of  water  fauna.     No  higher  development  of 
water  fauna  has  since  occurred. 

SIXTH  EPOCH  BEGINS. 

Temperature  somewhat  warmer  than  the 
present. 

(24-25.)  Culmination  of  land  animals  in  "  liv- 
ing "  species  of  beasts,  cattle,  etc.,  in  latter  part 
of  Quaternary  Age. 

(26.)  Man  appears  very  late  in  the  Quaternary 
Age.  Present  temperature,  nearly. 

Announcement  of  entire  completion  of  the 
whole  plan  over  all  the  earth.  The  day  this  oc- 
curred was  the  sixth  Epochal  Day. 

Close  of  Sixth  Epocht  or 

that  of  final  culmination,  in  the  Mammalia,  and  in 


No  higher  animal  development  has  since  oc- 
curred. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

ON   THE    SECOND  CHAPTER    OF  GENESIS. 

SINCE  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  opening 
Chapter  of  Genesis  is  independent  of  all  that 
comes  after  it,  being  capable  of  verification  by 
itself,  I  had  thought  not  to  speak  of  the  Second. 
But  the  one  casts  light  upon  the  other,  so  that  the 
omission  of  either  leaves  the  subject  incomplete, 
and,  indeed,  in  part  unintelligible. 

The  first  three  verses  of  this  chapter  are  clearly 
a  part  of  the  preceding  account.  As  to  the  fourth, 
fifth,  sixth,  and  perhaps  the  seventh,  there  is 
among  Bible  students  a  difference  of  opinion, 
some  regarding  them  as  the  end  of  the  first  ac- 
count, others,  as  the  beginning  of  the  second. 
To  me  it  appears  that  they  are  both,  partaking  of 
the  characteristics  of  each,  connecting  the  two,  the 
Elohistic  and  the  Jehovistic,  by  an  indissoluble 
bond,  affirming  that  the  God  of  creation  and  the 
Jehovah-God,  or  the  God  of  the  Covenant,  are  one. 

There  is  here,  moreover,  the  same  surpassingly 
wise  choice  of  words.  "  These  are  the  generations 
of  the  heavens  and  of  the  earth,"  or,  as  others 
translate  it,  "These  are  the  genealogies,"  etc. 
The  sense  is  the  same. 


GENESIS,    CHAPTER   II.  137 

There  is  a  wealth  of  meaning  in  this  phrase. 
I  know  of  no  words  that  convey  so  much,  so  ac- 
curately as  these.  If  the  Author  had  said,  "this 
is  the  history  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,"  or, 
"  this  is  the  chronology  of  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,"  he  would  barely  have  told  us  of  events  in 
succession.  But  "generations"  implies  that  in 
the  strongest  possible  manner,  with  the  added 
information  of  a  serial  development,  a  depend- 
ence, an  outgrowth,  one  stage  of  progress  the 
result  of  that  which  preceded,  and  in  these  com- 
bined the  highest  scientific  summation  of  the 
results  of  human  knowledge. 

On  the  use  of  *'  day,"  in  the  fourth  verse,  I 
have  already  spoken. 

The  remainder  of  this  connecting  bond,  v.  5, 
v.  6,  condenses  all  before  Adam  into  a  few  lines, 
cramped  and  foreshortened  by  the  small  space 
into  which  the  story  is  compressed.  The  writer, 
then,  starting  with  the  creation  of  man,  v.  7,  gives 
a  more  extended  account  of  various  events  which 
took  place  in  the  last  creative  epoch. 

In  these  verses  (4-7)  the  Author  sets  forth  the 
LORD  God's  universal  creatorship,  from  the  great- 
est, i.  e.  "  the  heavens  and  the  earth,"  to  the  least, 
i.  e.  to  "  the  plants  in  the  field,"  and  then  his 
eternity,  as  shown  by  the  remoteness  of  the  crea- 
tion. It  was  before  the  plants  were  in  the  earth, 
or  herbs  began  to  grow,  before  man  appeared  to 
till  the  ground. 


138  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

In  the  fulness  of  his  overflowing  knowledge, 
the  Author  interjects  a  clause  which  no  man  be- 
fore the  present  century  could  comprehend.  He 
says  "  it  was  before  there  was  any  rain  upon  the 
earth,  when  the  earth  was  clothed  in  mists,"  i.  e. 
far  back  in  the  remote  epoch  before  the  earth  had 
so  far  cooled  as  to  permit  of  rain,  before  the  firma- 
ment had  divided  the  waters,  before  Geology 
begins  to  compute  its  Cosmic  Chronology.  Then, 
passing  by  a  natural  transition  from  one  extreme 
to  the  other,  he  comes  to  this  end  of  creation  and 
tells  us  all  we  can  ever  know  of  the  formation  of 
Adam,  after  which  he  records  certain  subsequent 
events,  closing  with  the  institution  of  marriage.* 

In  the  following  paraphrase  I  have  endeavored 
to  bring  out  more  fully  what  appears  to  be  the 
meaning  of  these  verses.  In  the  fifth  verse  I 
have  substituted  "  when  "  in  place  of  "  for."  It 
is  very  difficult  to  see  any  force  in  the  causative 
conjunction.  An  examination  of  the  original  will 
show  that  the  reader  is  not  limited  to  that  signi- 
fication, since  the  same  word  is  often  u'sed  as  an 
adverb  of  time,  and  is  so  translated  in  many 
places.  Examine  Genesis  iv.  12,  and  Job  vii. 
13.  These  are  sufficient  to  show  the  usage.  The 
identical  word  rendered  in  the  Second  Chapter 
of  Genesis  "  for,"  is,  in  the  cases  referred  to,  ren- 
dered "when."  Hence,  evidently,  the  reader  is 

*  See  Part  II.  for  an  article  on  the  chronological  arrange- 
ment of  these  two  Chapters. 


GENESIS,    CHAPTER    H.  139 

at  liberty  to  use  the  meaning  which,  in  view  of  all 
the  facts,  appears  to  him  the  best. 

PARAPHRASE. 

"  These  statements  in  the  first  Chapter,  are  the 
generations  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  setting 
forth  the  order  in  which  (i.  e.  when)  they  were 
created,  in  the  day  (time .unlimited)  the  LORD 
God  made  all  things,  even  the  earth  and  the 
heavens,  the  extremes  of  greatness,  down  to  the 
least,  even  every  plant  of  the  field,  going  back  into 
the  eternity  before  it  (the  plant)  was  in  the  earth, 
and  every  herb  of  the  field  before  it  grew,  back  to 
that  remote  period  when  the  LORD  God  had  not 
caused  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth,  and  there  was  not 
a  man  to  till  the  ground,  but  a  mist  went  up  to 
water  the  whole  face  of  the  earth."  Passing  over 
all  the  intermediate  ages,  the  Author  comes  down 
to  the  creation  of  man,  and  says,  "  And  the  LORD 
God  formed  man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground, 
and  he  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of 
life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul."' 

All  agree  that  Man  is  formed  out  of  the  dust 
of  the  ground,  that  into  his  nostrils  is  breathed 
the  breath  of  life, 'and  that  he  is  a  living  soul. 
To  this  Science  can  add  nothing,  but  busies  itself 
With  considering  whether  the  dust  was  taken 
directly  from  the  ground,  or  mediately  through 
ordinary  generation,  by  some  beast,  either  in  em- 
bryo or  in  youth  ;  and  if,  as  so  many  now  claim, 


140  GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 

the  latter  be  the  truth,  whether  this  change  from 
a  brute  to  a  man  was  due  to  a  greater  or  less 
abundance  of  food,  or  to  something  else  affecting 
the  vitality  of  the  parent  beasts.  The  advocates 
of  this  theory  of  the  evolution  of  man  from 
a  beast,  here  divide  into  two  parties,  the  one 
referring  this  upward  development  to  an  Intel- 
ligent Power,  the  other  acknowledging  a  Power, 
but  ignoring  all  intelligence  or  other  indication 
of  personality.  These  suppose  that  all  evolution 
comes  either  by  chance  or  by  the  action  of  a  law 
implanted  in  the  Cosmic  atoms  in  the  origin 
of  the  universe.  This  law  of  evolution,  they 
claim,  produced  an  infinite  number  of  orders  and 
classes  and  species,  previous  to  the  historic  period, 
but  since  that  it  has  ceased  to  act,  resembling 
some  birds  that  will  not  lay  if  watched. 

The  narrative  offers  in  the  eighth  verse,  a  state- 
ment that  seems  directly  antagonistic  to  our  pre- 
vious beliefs,  but,  if  "it  means  just  what  it  says," 
marvelously  in  harmony  with  results  of  modern 
scientific  investigation,  results  arrived  at  within 
the  life  of  the  present  generation. 

Verse  eighth  reads,  "  And  the  LORD  God 
planted  a  garden  eastward  in  Eden,  and  there  he 
put  the  man  he  had  formed.  (Y.  9.)  And  out  of 
the  ground  the  LORD  God  made  to  grow  every 
tree  that  is  pleasant  to  sight  and  good  for  food," 
etc. 

From  this  it  follows,  that  the  creation  of  plants 


GENESIS,    CHAPTER   II.  141 

did  not  cease  at  the  close  of  the  third  period,  and 
that  in  Eden  at  least,  there  was  a  special  centre  of 
plant  creation.  If  there  was  one,  may  there  not 
have  been  others?  and  is  not  such  a  fact  emi- 
nently in  harmony  with  the  modern  scientific 
belief,  that  plants  and  animals  (v.  19)  were  created 
not  all  in  one  place,  but  at  various  centres  scat- 
tered over  the  world  ? 

There  were  also  planted  in  the  midst  of  the 
Garden,  two  mysterious  trees.  Of  one,  the  name 
only  is  given,  the  tree  of  life,  and  afterward  it  is 
spoken  of  as  if  it  had  power  to  make  our  first 
parents  "  live  for  ever."  As  to  this,  I  have  no 
explanations  to  offer  or  suggestions  to  make.  I 
accept  the  account  as  true,  however,  on  the  ground 
that  One  who  has  told  vera  verissima,  the  great 
truths  of  earth's  primeval  history,  had  no  occasion 
to  err  in  this. 

I  may,  however,  say  that,  although  we  know 
of  no  tree  that  heals  all  diseases,  we  do  know  of 
one  that  heals  very  many,  and  that,  furthermore, 
no  chemist  knows  why  the  bark  of  the  Peruvian 
tree  heals  so  many  ailments,  nor  can  he  affirm  that 
God  exhausted  his  power  when  he  created  it. 

As  to  the  Tree  of  Knowledge  of  Good  and 
Evil,  we  know  the  sad  story.  Certainly  there  is 
no  impossibility  in  such  a  test  of  obedience,  and 
as  to  the  dignity  or  worthiness  of  such  a  trial, 
that  is  not  a  question  for  us  to  decide,  and  surely 
it  has  no  bearing  on  the  truth  of  the  narrative. 


14:2  GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 

Yv.  10-14.  The  writer  mentions  four  rivers, 
which  to  those  familiar  with  the  geography  of 
that  country,  sufficiently  indicated  the  position  of 
the  Garden.  Two  of  these  we  can  now  identify, 
the  other  two  may  have  been  two  arms  into  which 
the  Euphrates  may  have  divided,  as  do  the  Nile, 
Ganges,  and  many  other  rivers;  or  they  may 
have  been  simply  the  shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf, 
running  off  like  river  banks,  to  the  right  and  left, 
as  so  ably  argued  by  Prof.  Tayler  Lewis  in 
Lange's  Commentary. 

Vv.  15-17.  In  these  I  find  statements  on  which 
science  has  no  bearing,  and  consequently  cannot 
affect  this  argument.  I  will,  however,  say  that  I 
see  in  them  nothing  inconsistent  with  the  phi- 
losophy of  the  mind  or  the  relation  of  God  as  a 
Father  to  his  children.  On  some  future  occasion, 
I  hope  to  speak  more  fully  on  this  subject. 

V.  18.  "  It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone." 
Science  and  reason  reaffirm  this  truth.  A  com- 
panion is  necessary  for  man's  highest  develop- 
ment. 

V.  19.  In  this  we  are  told  that  "out  of  the 
ground  the  LORD  God  formed  every  beast  of  the 
field,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air."  That  this  is  a 
different  creation  from  the  one  spoken  of  in  the 
previous  chapter  (vv.  20,  25)  is  certain,  because 
these  are  all  land  animals,  or  at  least  land-formed, 
while  the  fowl  in  the  other  account  are  water-fowl, 
or  at  least  the  waters  brought  them  forth. 


GENESIS,    CHAPTER    H.  143 

V.  20.  Adam  gives  names  to  all  cattle,  beasts 
of  the  field,  and  fowls  of  the  air.  Nouns  pre- 
cede other  parts  of  speech.  Adam  had  all  the  ap- 
paratus for  speaking.  This  was  merely  the  occa- 
sion for  its  use.  Brutes  lack  this  power,  and  no 
opportunity  however  favorable,  no  need  however 
great,  has  yet  developed  it. 

I  suppose  all  Scientists  will  admit  the  truth, 
that  among  all  these  beasts  there  was  not  found 
"an  help  meet  for  man." 

Vv.  21-22.  In  these  is  given  an  account  of 
the  formation  of  woman  from  a  rib  taken  from 
Adam. 

Mysterious  as  this  appears,  its  mysteriousness 

is  in  its  uniqueness,  and  not  in  any  intrinsic  quality 

of  it*  own.     It  is  strictly  in  accordance  with  the 

processes  of  life  as  revealed  by  modern  scientific 

ireh, 

Only  two  modes  of  propagation  are  known, 
the  one  requiring  the  coexistence  of  two  individuals 
of  opposite  sexual  characteristics,  the  other  by 
"  fission  "  spontaneous  or  artificial.*  Indeed,  the 
former  in  the  last  analysis  of  microscopic  investi- 
gation is  only  a  form  of  the  latter. 

Generation  by  "  fission "  is  now  constantly 
going  on  in  many  of  the  lower  orders  of  animals 
as  well  as  in  the  propagation  of  plants  by  cut- 
tings. 

*  If  monogamic  generation  exists,  it  is  only  apparent,  for 
there  is  in  all  cases  really  a  duality  of  formation,  two  indi- 
viduals joined  into  one. 


144  GENESIS    AND   SCIENCE. 

Adam  was  the  only  one  of  the  race.  The 
Divine  Worker,  in  accordance  with  his  habit  of 
working  through  his  laws,  chose  the  only  method 
in  existence  among  his  creatures,  which  the  nature 
of  the  case  rendered  possible,  a  method  which  He 
himself  had  introduced  into  the  world,  and  with 
which  He  was  infinitely  familiar.  So  from  a  por- 
tion of  Adam,  "a  rib,"  "made  He  a  woman." 
A  miracle  indeed,  but  a  miracle  conforming  as  far 
as  the  conditions  permitted  to  methods  already  in 
use. 

After  this  follows  the  gift  of  Eve  to  Adam, 
his  reception  of  her  as  bone  of  his  bone  and  flesh 
of  his  flesh. 

A  statement  of  the  intimate  union  of  the  con- 
jugal relation,  and  of  the  purity  and  innocence  of 
the  pair,  closes  the  chapter. 

This  ends  the  history  of  Creation. 


PART    II. 

CONTAINING  EIGHT  STUDIES  ON  THE 

THE  FIRST  TWO  CHAPTERS  OF  GENESIS 

*  IN  WHICH 

THE  PHOTOGRAPHIC  TRUTHFULNESS  OF  THEIR 
STATEMENTS  IS  ASSUMED 


AB  Astronomers  will  soon  study  the  photographs  of  the  coming 
Transit,  applying  to  them  the  micrometer  and  microscope,  to  test  old 
theories  and  to  develop  new  ones,  so  have  I  studied,  as  I  was  able,  these 
logographs  of  an  ante-human  world. 

See  note,  page  48. 


A  HAKMONY 

OF 
THE  FIRST  TWO  CHAPTERS  OF  GENESIS. 

THE  two  accounts  are  here  arranged  chrono- 
logically, with  an  attempt  to  indicate  intervals 
of  time  by  blank  spaces  between  the  paragraphs. 
Of  the  duration  of  these,  Moses  gives  no  intima- 
tion, and  I  gather  it  wholly  from  God's  other 
Record.  This  much,  however,  is  certain,  the  an- 
nouncement or  command,  "  Let  it  be  so  and  so," 
marks  the  beginning  of  a  creative  epoch,  as  the 
words,  "  and  it  was  so,"  or  "  God  saw  it  was  good," 
mark  its  close.  After  these  there  is  some  remark 
added,  either  as  an  additional  fact  (v.  4,  5,  and  v.  8, 
v.  10),  or  a  more  explicit  statement  of  the  work  done 
(v.  12,  v.  21,  22,  25);  or  repeating  and  enlarging 
with  special  emphasis  (v.  16-19),  followed  in  every 
case  by  an  announcement  of  the  world-wide  extent 
of  the  work  in  that  "  'twas  evening  and  'twas  morn- 
ing" at  the  moment  the  Divine  Architect  pro- 
nounced each  epoch  ended,  the  work  completed 
which  was  foreshadowed  in  the  opening  words. 

I  have   made  some  verbal   changes  that  the 
original  seems  to  demand,  following  the  peculiar 


148  GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 

• 

wording  of  the  "  day  clauses  "  as  far  as  our  lan- 
guage will  permit. 

I  have  left  untouched  the  imperative  form,  as 
it  does  not  seriously  affect  the  meaning,  a  com- 
mand, in  God's  utterances,  being  simply  another 
mode  of  stating  His  own  purpose. 

I  should  prefer,  but  for  the  hoariness  of  anti- 
quity which  has  gathered  about  these  phrases,  to 
render  the  future  form  simply  by  our  English 
future. 

For  a  like  reason  I  have  retained  the  word 
"firmament."  It  is  now  so  well  understood  to  be 
an  improper  translation  of  a  word  meaning  "  ex- 
panse "  that  there  is  no  danger  of  mistaking  the 
true  sense.  Indeed,  to  most  English  readers  it  no 
longer  conveys  the  idea  of  solidity. 

In  regard  to  the  fourth  day,  I  have  already 
given  at  considerable  length  my  reasons  for  the 
translation  which  I  employ.  The  present  ren- 
dering does  violence  to  the  Hebrew  and  to  God's 
other  Record. 

I  have  placed  immediately  after  each  announce- 
ment of  completion,  the  command  (or,  so  to  speak, 
the  programme)  for  the  next  creative  stage,  in  the 
belief  that  there  were  no  gaps  in  this  work,  but  a 
continuous  development  of  God's  plans. 

Here  I  may  remark  that  the  earlier  stages 
were  of  immensely  longer  duration  than  the  later 
ones.  In  fact,  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to 
distinguish  any  intervals  in  the  last  three  periods. 


THE   MOSAIC    NARRATIVE.  149 


GENESIS,  CHAPTERS  I.  AND  II. 

1  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven 
and  the  earth.  (2)  And  the  earth  was  without 
form  and  void,  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of 
the  deep. 


And  the  spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of 
of  the  waters. 

3  And  God  said,  Let  there  be  light. 

And  there  was  light.  (4)  And  God  saw  the 
light  that  it  was  good. 

And  God  divided  between  the  light  and  be- 
tween the  darkness.  (5)  And  God  called  the  light 
Day,  and  the  darkness  he  called  Night.  And  the 
evening  was,  and  the  morn i HIT  was  one  day. 

6  And  God  said,  Let  there  be  a  firmament  in 
the  midst  of  the  waters,  and  let  it  divide   the 
waters  from  the  waters. 

7  And  God  made  the  firmament,  and  divided 
the  waters  which  were  under  the  firmament,  from 
the  waters  which  were  over  the  firmament :  and 
it  was   so.     (8)  And   God   called   the  firmament 
heaven.     And  'twas  evening  and  'twas  morning 
the  second  day. 


150  GENESIS    AND   SCIENCE. 

9  And  God  said.  Let  the  waters  under  the 
heaven  be  gathered  together  into  one  place,  and 
let  the  dry  land  appear. 

And  it  was  so.  (10)  And  God  called  the  dry 
land  Earth;  and  the  gathering  together  of  the 
waters,  called  he  Seas ;  and  God  saw  that  it  was 
good. 

11*  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth 
grass,  the  herb  yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit-tree 
yielding  fruit  after  his  kind,  whose  seed  is  in  it- 
self, upon  the  earth : 

•  ••••••••• 

•  ••••••••• 

and  it  was  so. 

12  And  the  earth  brought  forth  grass,  and 
herb  yielding  seed  after  his  kind  ;  and  the  tree 
yielding  fruit  whose  seed  was  in  itself  after  his 
kind.  (13)  And  God  saw  that  it  was  good.  And 
'twas  evening,  and  Jtwas  morning  the  third  day. 

14  And  God  said,  Let  it  be  that  the  lights  in 
the  firmament  of  the  heaven  divide  f  between 
(margin)  the  day  and  the  night,  %  and  let  them  be 

*  Verse  11  in  chronological  order  comes  between  verses 
9  and  10.  But  tins  order  is  for  the  sake  of  brevity  and  clear- 
ness held  for  the  moment  in  abeyance,  all  danger  of  error 
being  avoided  by  placing  both  completions  in  one  "  day/' 

f  Or  "  Let  the  lights  in  the  firmament  of  heaven  be  to 
divide,"  etc.;  either  form  harmonizes  with  the  idea  of  ap- 
pointment so  evident  in  the  next  two  clauses. 

J  A  father  divides  his  property  between  his  two  sons ;  so 
the  sun  and  moon  divide  their  influence,  their  light,  between 


THE   MOSAIC   NARRATIVE.  151 

for  signs,  and  for  seasons,  and  for  days,  and  years ; 
(15)  and  let  them  be  for  lights  in  the  firmament 
of  the  heaven  to  give  light  upon  the  earth : 


and  it  was  so. 

(ir>  And  God  made  two  great  lights;  the 
greater  light  to  rule  the  day,  and  the  lesser  light 
to  rule  the  night,  the  stars  also.  (17)  And 
God  set  them  in  the  firmament  of  the  heaven 
to  give  light  upon  the  earth;  (18)  and  to  rule 
over  the  day  and  over  the  night,  and  to  divide 
the  light  from  the  darkness.) 

19  And  God  saw  that  it  was  good.  And 
'twas  evening,  and  'twas  morning  the  fourth  day. 

L!"  And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  bring  forth 
abundantly  the  moving  creature  that  hath  life, 
and  fowl  that  may  fly  in  the  open  firmament  of 
heaven. 

21  And  God  created  great  whales,  and  every 
living    creature    that  rnoveth,    which    the  waters 
brought  forth  abundantly  after  their  kind,  and 
every  winged  fowl  after  his  kind. 

22  And  God  saw  that  it  was  good.     And  God 
blessed  them  saying,  Be  fruitful  and  multiply  and 
fill  the  waters  in  the  seas,  and  let  fowl  multiply 
in  the  earth.     (23)  And  'twas  evening  and  'twas 
morning  the  fifth  day. 

the  day  and  the  night,  giving  to  each  its  due  share.  Up 
to  this,  I  take  it,  their  shares  were  equal.  Now  they  are  to 
vary. 


152  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

24  And  God  said,  Let  the  earth  bring  forth 
the  living  creature  after  his  kind,  cattle  and 
creeping  thing  and  beast  of  the  earth  after  his 
kind. 


25  And  it  was  so.  And  God  made  the  beast 
of  the  earth  after  his  kind,  and  cattle  after  their 
kind,  and  every  thing  that  creepeth  upon  the  earth, 
after  his  kind :  and  God  saw  that  it  was  good. 

Chap.  II.,  v.  4-6.  These  are  the  generations  of 
the  heavens  and.  of  the  earth  when  they  were  cre- 
ated, in  the  day  the  Jehovah  God  made  the  earth 
and  the  heavens,  and  every  plant  of  the  field, 
before  it  was  in  the  earth,  and  every  herb  of  the 
field,  before  it  grew  ;  when  the  Jehovah  God  had 
not  caused  it  to  rain  upon  the  earth  and  there  was 
not  a  man  to  till  the  ground,  and  there  went  up  a 
mist  from  the  face  of  the  earth  and  watered  the 
whole  face  of  the  ground. 

Chap.  I.,  v.  26.  And  God  said,  Let  us  make 
man  in  our  image  and  in  our  likeness ;  and  let 
them  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and 
over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and 
over  all  the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping  thing 
that  creepeth  upon  the  earth. 

Chap.  II.,  v.  7-25.  And  the  Jehovah  God 
formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and 
breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and 
man  became  a  living  soul. 

And  the  Jehovah  God  planted  a  garden  east- 


THE   MOSAIC   NARRATIVE.  153 

ward  in  Eden,  and  there  he  placed  the  man  whom 
he  had  formed.  And  out  of  the  ground  made  the 
Jehovah  God  to  grow  every  tree  that  is  pleasant 
to  the  sight,  and  good  for  food ;  the  tree  of  life 
also  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  and  the  tr-ee  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  (Vv.  10,  11,  12,  13, 
14  describe  the  situation  of  the  garden.) 

And  the  Jehovah  God  took  the  man,  and  put 
him  into  the  garden  of  Eden  to  dress  it  and  to 
keep  it. 

And  the  Jehovah  God  commanded  the  man, 
saying,  Of  every  tree  of  the  garden  thou  mayest 
freely  eat ;  but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it ;  for  in  the 
day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die. 

And  the  Jehovah  God  said,  It  is  not  good  that 
the  man  should  be  alone;  I  will  make  him  an  help 
meet  for  him. 

And  out  of  the  ground  the  Jehovah  God 
formed  every  beast  of  the  field,  and  fowl  of  the 
air ;  and  brought  them  unto  Adam  to  see  what  he 
would  call  them  ;  and  whatsoever  Adam  called 
every  living  creature,  that  was  the  name  thereof.  • 

And  Adam  gave  names  to  all  cattle  and  to  the 
fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every  beast  of  the  field  ; 
but  for  Adam  there  was  not  found  an  help  meet 
for  him. 

And  the  Jehovah  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to 
fall  upon  Adam,  and  he  slept ;  and  he  took  one  of 
his  ribs  and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead  thereof. 
7* 


154:  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

And  the  rib  which  the  Jehovah  God  had  taken 
from  the  man,  made  he  a  woman  and  brought  her 
unto  the  man.  And  Adam  said,  This  is  now 
bone  of  my  bone  and  flesh  of  my  flesh  ;  she  shall 
be  called  Woman,  because  she  was  taken  out  of 
man.  (Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and 
mother,  and  shall  cleave  to  his  wife,  and  they  shall 
be  one  flesh.) 

And  they  were  both  naked,  the  man  and  his 
wife,  and  were  not  ashamed. 

Chap.  I.,  v.  27-31.  So  God  created  man  in  his 
own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  he  him  ; 
male  and  female  created  he  them.  And  God 
blessed  them  and  God  said  unto  them,  Be  fruitful 
and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue 
it ;  and  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea, 
and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  every  living 
thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth. 

And  God  said,  Behold,  I  have  given  you  every 
herb  bearing  seed  which  is  upon  the  face  of  all  the 
earth,  and  every  tree,  in  the  which  is  the  fruit  of 
a  tree  yielding  seed  ;  to  you  it  shall  be  for  meat ; 
and  to  every  beast  of  the  earth,  and  to  every  fowl 
of  the  air,  and  to  every  thing  that  creepeth  upon 
the  earth,  wherein  there  is  life,  I  have  given  every 
green  herb  for  meat ;  and  it  was  so. 

And  God  saw  every  thing  that -he  had  made, 
and  behold,  it  was  very  good. 

And  'twas  evening  and  'twas  morning  the 
sixth  day. 


PERSONALITY    OF   THE   MOSAIC   ACCOUNT.       155 

Chap.  II.,  v.  1-3.  Thus  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  were  finished  and  all  the  host  of  them. 

And  on  the  seventh  day  God  ended  his  work 
which  he  had  made;  and  he  rested  on  the  seventh 
day  from  all  his  work  which  he  had  made.  And 
God  blessed  the  seventh  day  and  sanctified  it ; 
because  that  in  it  he  had  rested  from  all  his  work 
which  God  created  and  made. 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  MOSAIC  ACCOUNT 
OF  CREATION. 

After  writing  Chapter  IV.  of  this  essay,  it 
occurred*  to  me  that  the  Scientific  truth  and  order 
of  the  events  recorded  might  be  evident  to  some 
minds,  if  some  other  word  should  be  substituted 
for  the  name  of  God. 

I  commenced  what  might  be  called  an  imper- 
sonal Genesis.  But  the  Narrative  refused  to  be  so 
treated.  I  was  met  at  every  step  by  an  ever-living 
personality  that  flashed  forth  from  almost  every 
phrase.  It  quickly  brought  me  to  a  stand  and 
compelled  me  either  to  give  up  the  attempt  or  to 
omit  large  portions  of  the  account.  "What  filled 
me  with  surprise  was  that  those  words  which 
before  had  appeared  almost  needless  surplusage, 
were  the  very  ones  that  baffled  all  my  efforts. 

Let  the  reader  attempt  this  for  himself,  select- 
ing any  one  of  the  terms  used  by  theophobists  in 
place  of  "  God." 

Let  him  take  the  most  unpromising  and,  for 


156  GENESIS    AND   SCIENCE. 

this  purpose,  the  most  awkward  of  all  the  expres- 
sions so  employed. 

In  the  beginning  Natural  Causes  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth. 

And  the  earth  was  without  form  and  void  ;  and  darkness 
was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep.  And  the  Spirit  of  Natural 
Causes  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters. 

And  Natural  Causes  said,  Let  there  be  light,  and  there 
was  light.  And  Natural  Causes  saw  the  light  that  it  was 
good.  And  Natural  Causes  divided  the  light  from  the  dark- 
ness. And  Natural  Causes  called  the  light  Day,  and  the 
darkness  he  called  Night.  .  .  .  And  Natural  Causes  said, 
Let  there  be  a  firmament.  .  .  .  And  Natural  Causes  made  a 
firmament.  .  .  .  And  Natural  Causes  called  the  firmament 
Heaven. 

We  have  gone  thus  through  but  a  fragment  of 
the  narrative,  and  the  abstraction  has  vanished, 
and  in  place  of  it  there  is  the  designation  of  a  liv- 
ing, acting  person.  If  the  reader  will  continue 
the  substitution  to  the  close  of  the  chapter,  he  will 
find  the  personal  element  intensified  until  in  the 
twenty-sixth  and  following  verses  it  culminates  in 
the  mysterious  first  person  plural,  the  Father  who 
forms  man  in  his  likeness,  and  blesses  and  endows 
him. 

If,  then,  the  outline  of  physical  events  here  re- 
corded, be  true,  both  as  to  the  events  themselves 
and  the  order  of  their  occurrence,  then  must  it  be 
equally  true  in  its  evidence  as  to  the  personality 
of  the  First  Cause.  The  two  are  so  interwoven 
that  separation  is  impossible. 

"  Dynamis  "  has  been  adopted  by  some  as  an 


GOD'S    VERDICT   OF   APPROVAL.  157 

eminently  fit  name  for  the  "  First  Cause,"  as 
eliminating  all  associations  with  personality.  But 
if  it  be  employed  in  this  narrative  in  place  of 
"  God,"  it  shares  the  fate  of  "  Natural  Causes  " 
and  becomes  only  a  title  of  an  intensely  personal 
Being. 

Nor  is  this  name  "  Dynainis,"  anything  new. 
The  pantheistic  writers  who  adopt  it,  possibly 
may  be  surprised  to  learn  that  precisely  the  same 
word  (in  Hebrew)  was  employed  by  Moses  in  this 
very  narrative. 

"  Elohim,"  the  word  he  employs,  translated 
"  God,"  means  "  Forces,"  or  Dynainis  in  the  plural ; 
i.  e.  all- powers  combined.*  The  account  itself 
adds  the  needed  personality  to  make  the  word 
properly  characterize  the  God  of  the  Hebrews,  the 
God  of  Creation. 


GOD'S  VERDICT  OF  APPROVAL,  "AND  GOD  SAW 
THAT  IT  WAS  GOOD." 

This  formula  occurs  six  times  in  the  first  chap- 
ter, while  a  higher  approval,  uvery  good,"  occurs 
but  once,  and  there  are  four  divine  acts  that  do 
not  receive  any  such  meed. 

What  fact  underlies  this  distinction  ?  What 
does  the  author  mean  by  "good"?  Certainly 
not  any  moral  quality,  since  none  can  be  pre- 

*  See  Lange  on  Genesis,  page  109,  on  the  meaning  and 
derivation  of  Elohim.  Also  Dr.  Lewis'  note,  eaine  page. 

"  Power,  greatness,  vastness."  "  Our  terms,  infinite,  ab- 
solute, etc.,  add  nothing  to  these  in  idea." 


158  GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 

dicated  of  light,  nor  of  land  and  water,  nor  of  the 
other  things  done,  or  creatures  created,  before  man. 

A  good  machine  is  one  so  thoroughly  finished 
in  all  its  parts  and  arrangements,  as  to  do  the 
work  for  which  it  was  intended.  A  western  pio- 
neer calls  his  farm  a  good  one,  when  he  has  re- 
moved the  forests,  and  brought  the  land  into  a 
condition  fit  for  his  purposes. 

The  work  in  which  the  Almighty  is  represented 
as  employed,  was  that  of  bringing  our  world  from 
its  primary  formless,  empty,  dark  state,  to  a  condi- 
tion tit  for  man.  In  itself  considered,  every  act  of 
God  is  good,  being  perfectly  fitted  for  the  purpose 
he  has  in  view ;  but  in  reference  to  completion  for 
the  use  of  the  coming  race,  many  things  were  but 
stepping-stones  to  something  better. 

I  think  I  see  in  this  why  so  many  divine  acts 
are  left  without  the  word  of  approval,  and  why 
others  receive  it. 

Let  us  see  how  this  agrees  with  the  account, 
and  with  the  physical  facts. 

No.  1.  "In  the  beginning  God  created  the 
heavens  and  the  earth."  Not  pronounced  good, 
since  it,-  the  Cosmos,  was  not  ready  for  man's  use, 
being  in  a  Nebulous  condition.  It  required  a 
long  course  of  perfecting. 

No.  2.     Motion  imparted. 

Not  pronounced  good,  because  it  was  only 
germinal  of  future  results.  Not  motion  or  force 
in  a  shape  that  man  could  use. 


159 

No.  3.     Light  came  into  existence. 

Pronounced  good,  because  light  has  no  stages 
of  progress.  It  was  perfected  at  once,  ready  for 
the  future  man  and  organic  life.  No  improve- 
ment has  since  been  made  in  it. 

No.  4.     Beginning  of  days  and  nights. 

Not  pronounced  "  good,"  as  the  axis  was  yet  to 
be  bent  farther  from  the  perpendicular,  to  give 
varying  length  of  days,  and  to  cause  seasons,  a 
change  that  occurred  long  afterwards. 

No.  5.  Deposition  of  water,  and  formation  of 
a  clear  expanse,  being  the  preparation  of  the  at- 
mosphere for  the  transmission  of  the  solar  rays. 

Not  pronounced  good,  because  the  purification 
was  not  completed  till  long  afterwards. 

No.  6.  The  appearance  of  the  dry  land,  and 
the  formation  of  the  oceans. 

This  is  pronounced  good.  No  change,  Geo- 
logy tells  us,  has  taken  place  in  the  plan  since  the 
foundations  were  laid  in  the  azoic  rocks,  nor  any 
considerable  upheaval  or  enlargement  since  its 
completion  in  the  Tertiary.  It  was  then  in  its 
general  arrangements  and  outlines  ready  for  man. 

No.  7.  Production  of  grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit 
trees. 

Pronounced  good,  because  no  farther  advance 
was  needed  to  fit  the  vegetable  world  for  man, 
and  the  cattle  and  beasts,  the  fauna,  to  him  objects 
of  the  greatest  interest.  Angiosperms  and  palms 
are  the  highest  developed  of  the  vegetable  world. 


160  GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 

No.  8.  A  climatic  change  introducing  unequal 
days,  seasons,  and  measurement  of  years,  really  an 
increase  of  axial  inclination. 

Pronounced  good,  because  no  further  change 
was  needed  to  provide  modern  climate  for  man. 
No  change  in  that  direction  has  since  occurred. 

No.  9.  Production  of  "  living "  species  of 
fowls,  fish,  and  moving  things,  of  aquatic  habits. 

Pronounced  good,  because  they  marked  the 
completion  of  those  orders  of  animal  life  for  man's 
use.  No  higher  orders  since. 

No.  10.  The  production  of  mammalia,  and  in- 
creased development  of  lower  orders  of  terrestrial 
animals. 

Pronounced  good,  because  no  further  improve- 
ment was  contemplated.  They  were  ready  for 
man.  No  higher  orders  since. 

No.  11.  The  Creation  of  Man,  the  making  of 
the  garden  with  its  peculiar  fauna  and  flora,  the 
formation  of  Eve,  and  the  institution  of  marriage. 

These  mark  a  higher  and  nobler  culmination, 
a  crown  of  glory  to  the  hitherto  brute  world,  a 
work  which  God  does  not  call  upon  nature  to  per- 
form, but  which  God  is  represented  as  doing 
solely  himself. 

This,  in  a  higher  sense  of  satisfaction  and  com- 
pletion, God  pronounces,  Very  good. 


THE   DIVINE   MONOLOGUE.  161 


THE  DIVINE  MONOLOGUE. 

In  the  Narrative,  God  is  represented  as  speak- 
ing. Was  there  actually  a  sound,  a  voice  $  It 
would  seem  that  there  was.  God  afterward  spoke 
with  human  voice  to  Adam  and  Eve,  to  Moses 
upon  the  Mount,  to  the  children  of  Israel,  and  to 
many  of  his  people  down  through  the  years  of 
Jewish  history. 

Whether  he  spoke  with  a  voice  or  not,  the  in- 
tense literalism  of  the  whole  induces  me  to  believe 
that  by  means  equivalent  to  speech  he  did  convey 
to  some  audience  the  sense  which  we  find  in  the 
written  narrative.  Nor  are  we  left  to  conjecture 
who  the  audience  were,  in  whose  ears  sounded 
the  divine  announcements  of  his  purposes.  Ten 
times  we  read  "And  God  said."'  Twice  out  of 
these,  he  speaks  to  Adam.  In  the  other  eight,  no 
listeners  are  mentioned,  but  we  know  there  was 
an  eager,  attentive,  sympathetic  audience,  for  the 
Almighty  himself  tells  us,  that  when  "he  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  earth,  when  he  laid  the 
measures  thereof,  and  stretched  a  line  upon  it," 
"  the  Sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy." 

There  seems  an  incongruity  between  the  pho- 
tographic realism  of  the  account,  and  the  form 
of  expression  attributed  to  God  in  our  English 
Version,  where  he  is  represented  as  commanding 
matter  as  if  it  was  a  sentient  being,  able  of  itself 
to  obey,  as  when  he  says,  "Let  the  earth  bring 


162  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

forth,"  or  stranger  still,  when  he  commands  the 
non-existent  to  exist. 

"  Let  there  be  light." 

Such  expressions  would  befit  a  poem  abound- 
ing in  the  bold  imagery  of  the  East,  but  seem 
strangely  out  of  place  in  a  description  whose  prose 
literalism  in  every  other  respect  is  simply  won- 
derful. 

But  when  we  read  in  the  Hebrew  Grammar 
that  there  is  no  imperative  form  in  that  language 
for  the  first  or  the  third  person,  but  that  the  future 
is  employed,  and  that  the  translator  is  guided  only 
by  his  judgment,  i.  e.  by  subjective  reasons, 
whether  to  render  it  by  the  future  or  by  the  im- 
perative, the  incongruity  vanishes. 

The  translators  may  have  been  transcendent 
Hebrew  scholars,  but  they  allowed  their  notions 
of  what  Moses  ought  to  say,  to  lead  them  so  far 
astray  as  to  mistranslate  "  expanse,"  or  "  open 
space,"  by  "  firmament,"  something  solid.  Al- 
though the  Septuagint  and  all  other  ancient  ver- 
sions accord,  it  will  not  be  presumption  to  question 
their  accuracy  in  a  matter  in  which  they  had 
nothing  but  their  beliefs,  scientific  or  metaphysi- 
cal, to  guide  them.  Even  that  critical  tact  which 
conies  from  long  acquaintance  with  a  language, 
may  be  an  unsafe  guide  if  tempered  with  incor- 
rect ideas  of  creation,  or  of  God's  manner  of  work- 
ing. The  only  safe  course  would  have  been  to 
translate  the  text  as  Moses  wrote  it,  calling  an 


"THE  SPIRIT  OF  GOD."  163 

"  expanse  "  an  u  expanse,"  and  a  future  tense  a 
future  tense. 

Read  in  this  sense,  the  intense  realism  of  the 
Narrative  is  without  alloy. 

Instead  of  commands  to  non-existences  or  to 
inert  matter,  we  find  announcements  of  Divine 
purposes,  a  series  of  prophecies,  which  are  in  due 
time  fulfilled,  as  is  related  in  a  succeeding  verse. 

I  may  be  mistaken,  but  it  seems  to  me  infi- 
nitely more  sublime  for  the  Divine  Architect  to 
calmly  announce  his  purposes,  and  record  that  he 
has  accomplished  them,  than  to  think  of  him  as 
giving  forth  a  command  to  matter  to  do  a  thing 
which  matter  cannot  do,  and  which,  after  all,  God 
himself  does. 

As  to  the  statement  that  St.  Paul  says  "  God 
commanded  the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,"  * 
it  is  probably  a  sufficient  answer  to  say  that  the 
Apostle  quoted  in  substance  from  the  Septuagint, 
the  Bible  then  in  common  use.  I  might  add  what 
every  scholar  knows,  that  einw  is  not  properly  a 
word  of  command  at  all,  but  rather  of  narration, 
and  is  so  rendered  in  all  the  four  hundred  or  more 
times  it  occurs  in  the  New  Testament,  save  three 
or  four. 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  GOD  MOVED  UPON  THE  FACE  OF 
THE  WATERS. 

In  the  first  verse  God  creates,  in  the  third,  the 
Spirit  of  God  acts.     Why  this  distinction  ?     Per- 
*  2  Corinth,  iv.  6. 


164  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

haps  the  character  of  the  two  things  done,  as 
revealed  by  the  New  Chemistry  as  already  quoted, 
will  give  a  good  explanation.  If  all  qualities  of 
matter  be  the  results  of  one  substratum  modified 
by  the  varying  play  of  one  force,  the  imparting 
and  regulating  this  force  was  an  operation  requir- 
ing, as  far  as  we  can  judge,  infinitely  more  of  what 
we  should  call-in  a  man,  intellect,  than  the  act  of 
generating  the  material  on  which  the  force  was  to 
act.  The  matter  was  inert,  dead,  formless,  the 
force  imparted  to  it,  if  Evolutionists  are  riy/tt, 
contained  in  germ,  the  future  creation.  The  first 
act  was,  so  to  speak,  merely  physical.  The  second 
laid  the  foundation,  planned  the  future  Cosmos 
and  its  inhabitants,  endowed  its  atoms  with  powers 
fitted  for  their  mission,  set  a  compass  upon  the 
face  of  the  depth,  prepared  the  heavens,  and  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  earth.  The  former  was,  so 
to  speak,  the  work  of  the  Almighty  hand  ;  the  lat- 
ter, the  work  of  the  Almighty  mind,  that  is,  the 
Spirit  of  God,  surpassing  the  other  as  mind  sur- 
passes body. 

The  statement  recorded  by  Moses  is,  then,  an 
assertion  that  the  imparting  of  these  forces  was 
not  the  work  of  mere  Power  or  Law,  but  a  posi- 
tive exercise  of  intelligence,  purpose,  will, — all 
that  constitutes  personality. 


THE  "SIX  DATS."  165 


ON  THE  "SIX  DAYS"  OF  THE  FOURTH 
COMMANDMENT. 

"  For  in  six  days  the  LORD  made  heaven  and  earth,  the 
sea  and  all  that  in  them  w,  and  rested  the  seventh  day." 
(Exodus  xx.  11.) 

"  For  iTi  six  days  the  LORD  made  heaven  and  earth,  and 
in  the  seventh  day  he  rested  and  was  refreshed."  (Exod. 
xxxi.  17.) 

I  cannot  feel  that  I  have  done  full  justice  to 
this  question,  as  to  the  length  of  the  Mosaic 
"days,"  in  its  broadest  meaning,  without  consider- 
ing more  fully  the  belief  which  certainly  exists, 
that  God  intended  to  convey  the  impression  that 
the  world  and  its  contents  were  formed  in  six  con- 
secutive days,  and  not  within  six  days  separated 
by  intervals  of  unknown  length. 

Affirming  the  incorrectness  of  such  a  belief  is 
no  more  an  impugnment  of  the  written  record, 
than  is  a  statement  of  the  true  magnitude  of  the 
stars  a  contradiction  of  Nature.  In  both  there  is 
an  apparent  meaning  which  a  more  careful  exami- 
nation corrects.  The  question  is  not  in  either 
case,  what,  with  views  limited  by  ignorance  or 
disturbed  by  previous  beliefs,  we  may  think  was 
meant  by  "  six  days,"  but  what,  in  the  light  of  all 
knowledge,  these  words  represent.  Astronomy 
would  have  made  little  progress  had  philosophers 
in  their  faith  in  the  veracity  of  Nature  accepted 
appearances  as  ultimate  truth. 

Throughout  that   narrative,  which   as   God's 


166  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

sign-manual  is  placed  on  the  first  page  of  Bevela- 
tion,  a  literal  realism  is  found  absolutely  unap- 
proachable by  any  human  document;  but  else- 
where God  often  employed  expressions  clothed  in 
metaphor  of  every  degree  of  boldness.  Christ's 
conversation  abounded  in  them.  He  called  him- 
self a  door,  a  vine,  a  lamb,  and  many  other  names. 
But  he  was  not  careful  to  use  only  such  metaphors 
as  could  not  be  misunderstood. 

When  the  Jews  in  the  temple  asked  for  a  sign, 
he  replied,  "  Destroy  this  temple  and  in  three  days 
I  will  raise  it  up  again."  Their  answer  proves 
that  his  words  had  been  misunderstood,  and  he 
must  have  known  it,  but  he  vouchsafed  no  expla- 
nation. In  Ex.  xxxi.  17,  God  says  he  "  was  re- 
freshed." Being  "  refreshed  "  is  evidently  spoken 
after  the  manner  of  a  man  coming  down  to  the 
level  of  his  hearers. 

These  will  suffice  to  show  that  first  impressions 
are  often  wrong,  and  that  we  are  to  test  them  in 
all  possible  ways.  No  encouragement  is  given  to 
mental  indolence. 

My  reasons,  then,  for  believing  that  the  Com- 
mandment was  not  intended  to  teach  a  creation  in 
six  consecutive  days,  are  as  follows :  In  Genesis 
there  is  no  assertion  that  anything  was  made  on 
any  of  the  "  days."  It  is  affirmed  that  on  each 
"  day  "  God  saw  the  completed  progress  and  pro- 
nounced it  "  good." — that  is  all.  In  the  second 
chapter,  we  are  told  of  "  the  day "  in  which  all 
things  were  made,  as  if  to  forbid  the  belief  that 


THE    "SIX   DAYS."  167 

the  previous  days  were  days  of  creation.  Ex. 
xxxi.  17,  as  already  shown,  could  not  possibly  have 
been  intended  to  mean  what  the  Hebrews  under- 
stood from  it,  viz.,  that  God  "was  refreshed," 
"  took  breath,"  as  the  Hebrew  has  it.  The  pre- 
position "  in"  does  not  occur  in  the  phrase,  "  for  in 
six  days,"  as  is  shown  by  the  italics  in  our  version. 
The  writer  says,  "God  made  heaven  and  earth 
and  all  that  in  them  is,"  in  some  relation  to  "  six 
days  "  (Hebrew,  "  six  of  days,"  i.  e.  a  series  of  six 
days  ?)  and  leaves  us  to  discover  what  that  relation 
is.  As  there  is  no  anachronism  in  imputing  to 
God  the  knowledge  of  modern  Science,  we  may 
take  his  words  from  our  highest  present  stand- 
point (infinitely  below  His),  and  supply  the  ellipsis 
by  that  word  which,  in  view  of  all  the  facts,  best 
represents  the  true  relation.  By  "heaven"  is 
meant  here,  as  I  think,  the  firmament  or  open 
space  in  which  the  birds  fly.  If  so,  then  the  pro- 
per preposition  appears  to  be  "  within,"  making 
it  read  "  for  within  six  days,"  etc.  It  was  after 
the  "  one  day"  that  God  made  the  firmament,  and 
it  was  before  the  day  of  announcement  of  final  com- 
pletion that  he  made  "  all  that  in  them  is."  In  this, 
too,  was  included  the  making  (not  the  creation)  of 
the  earth  to  be  a  habitation  for  man.  Thus  the  en- 
tire transaction  is  brought  within  the  "  six  days." 
It  is  clear,  then,  that  God  intended  to  impress 
most  strongly  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  in 
commemoration  of  his  creating  all  things.  To  do 
this  he  used  a  form*  of  expression  most  fitted  for 


168  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

his  purpose,  yet  so  guarded  that  the  thoughtful 
mind  earnestly  seeking  the  truth,  and  collating 
God's  two  Eecords  with  each  other,  need  find  no 
contradiction. 


ON  THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  PLANTS  AND  ANI 
MALS  OF  THE  GARDEN  OF  EDEN. 

The  intense  realism  of  the  Mosaic  Narrative 
seems  to  suffer  a  shock  in  the  twenty-ninth  and 
thirtieth  verses  of  the  first  chapter,  where  we  are 
told, 

"  And  God  said,  Behold  I  have  given  you 
every  herb  bearing  seed  which  is  upon  the  face  of 
all  the  earth,  and  every  tree  in  which  is  the  fruit 
of  a  tree  yielding  seed  ;  to  you  it  shall  be  for 
meat ;  and  to  every  beast  of  the  earth,  and  to 
every  fowl  of  the  air;  and  to  every  thing  that 
creepeth  upon  the  earth  wherein  there  is  the 
breath  of  life,  every  green  herb  for  meat ;  and  it 
was  so." 

In  these  verses  I  find  two  difficulties.  "  Every 
herb  bearing  seed  "  and  every  tree  yielding  fruit 
are  said  to  be  given  to  man  for  "  meat,"  i.  e.  he  is 
to  eat  them  and  be  sustained  and  nourished  by 
them,  and  yet  we  well  know  that  there  are  herbs 
and  trees  which  are  injurious  or  even  destructive 
to  him.  We  are  also  told  that  "  every  green 
herb "  was  to  be  "  meat "  for  all  the  animals, 
while  we  know  that  to  the  carnivorous  animals 
such  a  diet  means  death  by  starvation.  Nor  is  it 


PLANTS  AND  ANIMALS  OF  EDEN.       169 

any  answer  to  say  that  all  seeds  and  fruits  were 
then  non-injurious,  for  of  that  we  have  no  proof, 
and  the  Bible  and  Science  have  both  suffered  too 
much  from  positive  assertions,  whose  only  founda- 
tion was  a  desire  to  say  something  to  cover  up  the 
speaker's  ignorance.  I  trust  the  day  has  gone  by 
for  the  invention  of  Scientific  or  Theological  facts. 

Moreover,  since  many  animals  feed  upon  plants 
poisonous  to  man,  such  a  supposition  requires  us 
to  believe  that  the  injurious  plants  and  the  crea- 
tures that  feed  upon  them,  were  created  after  the 
fall,  i.  e.  after  the  "  rest "  of  the  seventh  day. 

As  to  the  Carnivora,  we  know  they  lived  long 
before  Adam.  Modern  Chemistry  has  shown  that 
they  through  the  herbivorous  animals,  derive  their 
food  from  the  "  green  herb,"  and  I  doubt  not  this 
modern  discovery  was  well  known  to  the  Author 
of  the  Narrative,  and  helps  explain  the  apparent 
universality  of  his  assertion ;  but  I  do  not  think 
Adam  and  Eve  so  understood  it.  There  must 
have  been  some  other  meaning,  not  inconsistent 
with  this,  which  readily  suggested  itself  to  their 
minds. 

This  other  meaning  I  seek.  To  be  satisfactory 
it  should  be  drawn  from  the  narrative  itself,  or 
from  admitted  facts.  In  this  inquiry  we  shall  de- 
rive much  assistance  from  the  next  chapter.  I 
assume  both  to  be  true ;  as  true  and  a  hundred 
times  more  true  than  Humboldt's  Cosmos,  or  any 
merely  human  narrative. 
8 


170  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

Looking  now  at  the  twenty-seventh  verse,  we 
read,  "  So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in 
the  image  of  God  created  he  him."  At  this  point 
of  time  the  events  of  the  next  chapter  come  in, 
from  the  creation  of  Adam  in  the  seventh  verse, 
or  rather  from  his  being  placed  in  the  garden,  up 
to  and  including  the  creation  of  Eve — for  it  adds, 
"  male  and  female  created  he  them,"  and  the  crea- 
tion of  Eve  and  her  union  to  Adam  are  the  last 
events  mentioned  in  this  Chapter. 

In  the  verses  8  and  9,  Chap.  II.,  we  are  told 
God  planted  a  garden  and  placed  in  it  the  man 
whom  he  had  formed,  i.  e.  previously  formed. 
"  And  out  of  the  ground  made  the  LORD  God  to 
grow  every  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight  and 
good  for  food."  .  .  .  After  which,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  apparent  order  (which  if  our  Witnesses 
be  reliable,  has  in  every  case  hitherto  been  the  true 
one)  this  happened  (remember  the  sixth  day  is  not 
yet  ended  nor  Eve  created),  v.  19,  "  And  out  of 
the  ground  the  LORD  God  formed  every  beast  of 
the  field  and  every  fowl  of  the  air."  Note  here  the 
absence  of  fishes  and  all  water  animals  which 
would  have  been  inappropriate  in  a  description  of 
the  animals  of  Eden.  After  the  formation  of  these 
animals,  God  formed  Eve  from  Adam,  and  subse- 
quent to  that  gave  to  them  (not  to  Adam  alone) 
dominion  over  all  animate  beings. 

In  verse  29,  God  told  them  that  all  fruits  were 
for  their  meat  and  all  green  herbs  for  the  animals. 


PLANTS  AND  ANIMALS  OF  EDEN.      171 

It  seems  from  this  address,  and  from  the  ac- 
count given  in  the  next  two  chapters,  that  God 
did  appear  in  some  form,  probably  in  human 
shape,  and  talk  to  and  with  Adam  and  Eve.  His 
language  must  have  been  adapted  to  their  ideas 
and  capacity.  He  first  gave  them  a  grant  of 
"  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  the  fowl  of 
the  air,  and  over  every  living  thing  that  moveth 
upon  the  earth." 

Subsequently  to  this  gift,  it  may  have  been  an 
hour  or  a  day,  or  longer,  God  again  speaks  to 
Adam,  to  whom  Eden,  extending  from  horizon  to 
horizon,  was  the  "  whole  earth,"  and  tells  him  that 
in  all  that  space  there  were  no  injurious  plants, 
but  all  were  either  "  pleasant  to  the  eye  or  good 
for  food,"  and  that  he  might  safely  eat  of  all,  save 
one  which  was  reserved  for  other  reasons  than  the 
possession  of  any  poisonous  quality.  Moreover, 
among  all  the  beasts,  birds  and  creeping  things 
upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,  there  was  not 
one  that  would  injure  him  ;  there  was  not  a  car- 
nivorous creature  among  them,  for  none  of  them 
ate  flesh,  but  all  lived  upon  vegetation,  even 
"  every  green  herb,"  such  animals  as  we  now  style 
herbivorous. 

This  seems  to  me  to  solve  the  difficulty.  There 
was  a  special  creation  of  plants  and  animals  for  the 
Garden,  an  idea  eminently  in  harmony  with  present 
scientific  belief  that,  as  a  general  thing,  the  flora 
and  fauna  of  each  great  section  originated  in  that 
section. 


172  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

The  entire  flora  of  the  Garden  consisted  of 
"  trees  pleasant  to  the  sight  and  good  for  food," 
as  well  as  "  herbs  bearing  seed,"  and  "  grass,"  and 
consequently  free  from  any  admixture  of  noxious 
species.  Their  "  fruit "  was  to  be  Adam's  "  meat." 

The  animal  world  of  that  region  was  in  har- 
mony with  the  vegetable.  All  ferocious,  flesh- 
eating  creatures  were  excluded.  Neither  preda- 
cious birds  nor  beasts  were  found  within  its  lim- 
its. The  only  fauna  were  those  which  subsisted 
upon  the  "green  herb  for  meat." 

This  realism  destroys  the  poetry  which  repre- 
sents the  lion  and  the  lamb,  the  leopard  and  the 
kid  living  harmoniously  together ;  but  it  is  based 
on  the  words  of  Moses,  and  contradicts  no  facts  of 
Scripture  or  Science. 

The  other  explanation  requires  us  to  believe  that 
carnivorous  animals  at  that  time  flourished  on  food 
on  which  we  know  they  would  now  starve  to  death, 
or  that  carnivorous  beasts  did  not  then  exist. 
The  first  would  require  a  suspension  of  the  laws 
of  animal  life,  and  the  second  contradicts  the  ex- 
planation itself. 

As  to  a  four-legged  creature  of  the  size  and 
appearance  of,  for  instance,  a  tiger,  but  with  teeth 
able  to  graze,  and  intestines*  and  stomach  able  to 
digest  the  food  of  an  ox,  such  an  animal  would  not 
be  a  tiger  at  all,  but  a  nameless  monster  of  whose 
existence  there  is  no  evidence. 

Moreover,  this  theory  requires  us  also  to  believe 


PLANTS  AND  ANIMALS  OF  EDEN.      173 

that  this  grass-eating  creature,  and  countless  other 
herbivorous  carnivores  (!)  were  destroyed  at  the 
time  of  Adam's  Fall,  and  their  places  supplied  by 
a  creation  (after  the  sixth  day,  remember)  of  non- 
herbivorous  carnivorous  animals,  or  else  that  each 
of  them  underwent  at  once  such  a  change  of  teeth, 
stomach,  and  intestines,  as  would  really  be  the  for- 
mation of  new  species,  a  transformation  which 
neither  Scripture  nor  Science  claims  to  have  taken 
place. 

Compared  with  this,  Darwinian  Evolution  is  a 
trifle. 

Verses  29  and  30  are  remarkable  for  a  depar- 
ture from  that  purely  objective  literalism  which 
needs  no  other  explanation  than  the  recognition  of 
the  facts  asserted,  to  what  may  be  styled  subjective 
literalism.  In  the  latter  the  reader  needs  to  be 
placed  en  rapport  with  the  one  to  whom  the  words 
were  originally  addressed,  in  order  to  obtain  the 
meaning  which  the  speaker  intended  to  convey. 

In  the  former  case  the  proposition  is  literally 
true  in  itself,  without  reference  to  the  subjective 
condition  of  either  hearer  or  reader.  Of  this  we 
have  abundant  illustration.  "  The  Earth  was  with- 
out form  and  void,*  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face 
of  the  deep,"  conveys  a  literal  truth  whether  we 
understand  it  or  not,  whether  the  earth  was  a  mass 
of  unassorted  earth  and  water  shrouded  in  densest 
clouds  waiting  for  the  sun  to  be  created,  or  whether 
it  describes  the  period  preceding  the  beginning  of 
motion. 


174:  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

Of  the  style  conveying  what  I  have  called  sub- 
jective truth,  we  have  abundant  examples  in  the 
language  of  daily  life,  and  need  no  other  explana- 
tion than  common  sense  at  once  supplies.  "  The 
house  was  crowded."  "  The  farmer  works  all  his 
life  for  a  moderate  competency."  "  The  ground 
was  all  covered  with  snow."  It  is  difficult  to  carry 
on  a  conversation  without  the  frequent  use  of  such 
expressions. 

In  this  light  read  the  twenty -ninth  verse : 
"  Behold  I  have  given  you  every  herb  bearing  seed 
which  is  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,"  etc. 
Eden  was  to  Adam  "  all  the  earth,"  of  which  he 
knew,  and  the  qualifying  or  limiting  word  "  the 
face,"  the  face  of  the  whole  earth  more  particularly 
means  all  that  Adam  could  see.  As  if  God  had 
said,  "  Look  over  all  this  land  which  I  have  given 
you,  all  its  fruit-bearing  trees  bear  food  for  you, 
all  its  animals  are  harmless,  no  beasts  of  prey 
among  them." 

This  mode  of  speaking  is  so  common  in  subse- 
quent portions  of  the  Bible,  that  it  seems  just  to 
suppose  the  Author  of  the  whole  introduces  at  the 
close  of  this  account  this  human  mode  of  expression 
as  an  interlocking  of  the  series  of  "  logographs  " 
with  human  thoughts,  feelings,  and  forms  of  speech 
recorded  in  other  portions  of  the  written  Word. 

If  such  be  the  true  character  of  the  fauna  of 
the  Garden,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  reconciling 
the  wide-spread  belief  that  animals  before  the  Fall 


THE   CREATION    OF   ANIMALS.  175 

did  not  feed  upon  flesh,  with  the  Geological  fact 
that  carnivorous  creatures  existed  long  before  man 
appeared  upon  the  earth. 


CONJECTURES  AS  TO  THE  PHYSICAL  FACTS  UN- 
DERLYING THE  MOSAIC  ACCOUNT  OF  THE 
CREATION  OF  ANIMALS. 

For  this  discussion,  three  postulates  are  de- 
manded. 

The  photographic  truthfulness  of  the  first  two 
chapters  of  Genesis ;  the  historical  truth  of  the 
miracles  recorded  in  both  Testaments ;  the  inti- 
mate relationship  of  organs  and  functions  dis- 
covered by  comparative  anatomy  between  the 
fauna  of  to-day  and  that  of  earlier  Geological 
Epochs.  If  the  reader  is  not  prepared  to  grant  all 
these  postulates,  it  will  be  a  waste  of  time  for  him 
to  read  the  remainder  of  this  article. 

Among  the  Scientific  Theories,  true  or  false, 
largely  affecting  men's  minds  at  the  present  day, 
none  is  more  prominent  than  that  commonly 
styled  Darwinism.  Its  influence,  perhaps,  is  all 
the  greater  from  the  difficulty  one  finds  in  giving 
it  a  fixed  form,  a  difficulty  which  enables  it  to 
adapt  itself  to  every  shade  of  belief,  from  the  de- 
vout faith  of  the  Christian  to  the  boldest  atheism, 
the  one  seeing  in  it  clear  proofs  of  God's  being 
and  power,  the  other,  as  evident  proofs  of  the 
non-existence  of  any  intelligence  higher  than  man, 
or  of  any  power  other  than  the  "  laws  of  Nature." 


176  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

I  know  of  no  reason  why  God  could  not  have 
produced  a  world  filled  with  organized  creatures, 
on  the  plan  of  more  or  less  frequent  variation  in 
successive  generations,  and  the  survival  of  the 
fittest,  although  it  seems  a  very  uncertain,  com- 
plicated, and  wasteful  method.  Nor,  on  the  other 
hand,  do  I  know  of  any  reason  why  he  should  not 
have  created  a  pair  or  more  of  each  species,  and 
impressed  upon  them  and  their  descendants  that 
stability  of  character  which,  at  least  in  historical 
times,  they  certainly  have  possessed,  however  they 
may  have  come  by  it. 

That  the  latter  plan  seems  simpler,  more  cer- 
tain, and  less  wasteful,  is  no  proof  of  its  being  the 
actual  method,  for  I  admit  that,  if  God  pleased,  he 
could  have  selected  the  worst  possible  mode  of 
peopling  his  world,  a  mode  which  no  man  pos- 
sessed of  infinite  power  and  wisdom  would  choose. 
Which  one,  then,  of  these  methods  was  actually 
employed,  becomes  a  question  simply  of  evidence. 

It  is  admitted  that  the  formulae  for  all  species, 
as  far  as  our  experiments  have  extended,  contain 
certain  variable  elements  which  admit  of  increase 
or  diminution,  and  hence  give  rise  to  correspond- 
ing differences  in  their  development.  Perhaps  this 
was  part  of  the  primal  gift  of  dominion.  How 
far  this  power  extends  can  only  be  ascertained  by 
exhaustive  experiment.  We  can  not  only  in- 
crease the  normal  amount  of  flesh  upon  our  cattle, 
but  by  judicious  breeding  can  impress  upon  their 


CREATION    OF   ANIMALS.  177 

descendants  certain  traits  which  we  desire  to  per- 
petuate. We  can  produce  one  kind  that  most 
readily  assimilate  their  food  into  flesh,  another, 
into  milk,  and  another,  into  great  muscular  power. 
Our  horses  can  be  so  developed  by  careful,  intelli- 
gent crossing,  that  one  breed  shall  beget  animals 
famed  for  speed,  while  another  produces  only 
those  noted  for  powers  of  draught.  By  similar 
intelligent  selection  and  propagation  of  like  with 
like,  we  can  increase  or  diminish  certain  peculiari- 
ties in  our  fowls,  but  as  for  those  deeper  elements 
on  which  is  based  our  idea  of  species,  no  one  has 
yet  been  able  to  touch  them.  Thus  far  at  least, 
the  evidence  is  wholly  negative,  and  the  fact  that 
the  slight  variations  which  have  been  produced 
are  due  to  careful  and  intelligent  choice,  not  in  the 
brutes,  but  in  Man,  is  proof,  as  far  as  it  goes,  that 
if  all  animals  are  sprung  from  one  stock,  those 
deeper  elements  of  being  marking  widely  sepa- 
rated provinces  of  the  animal  kingdom,  are  due 
to  a  Cause  of  a  similar  but  higher  order. 

Besides  the  present  living  animals,  there  are 
in  the  rocks  the  remains,  in  numbers  absolutely 
incalculable,  of  pre-historic  organisms,  reaching 
back  to  the  time  life  began.  Yery  many  thousands 
of  species  of  these  creatures,  scattered  widely  over 
the  earth,  have  been  examined  by  men  whose  word 
is  authority,  and  they  tell  us  that  thus  far  no  affirma- 
tive evidence  of  a  gradual  change  from  one  species 
8* 


178  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

to  another  has  been  found.*  The  advocates  of 
this  Theory  admit  the  correctness  of  this  state- 
ment, but  claim  that  somewhere  evidence  tending 
to  establish  its  truth  will  yet  be  found. 

It  does  seem  a  logical  absurdity  to  rest  so  large 
a  conclusion  as  Darwinism  on  so  small  a  base  of 
facts. 

Beside  the  record  of  the  Rocks,  there  is  another 
that  is  for  the  most  part  ignored  by  the  friends  of 
this  theory,  or  if  they  speak  of  it  at  all,  do  so  in  a 
tone  of  lofty  superiority,  as  worthy  of  notice  only 
as  marking  a  wide-spread  and  lasting  delusion 
from  which  the  race  is  slowly  awaking. 

But  an  Author  able  to  give  with  photographic 
accuracy  the  ante-human  history  of  our  globe,  is 
certainly  a  witness  whose  evidence  is  not  lightly 
to  be  rejected. 

In  the  account  in  Genesis,  three  propositions 
are  clearly  set  forth.  1st,  That  the  "  waters " 
and  "  the  earth  "  "  brought  forth  "  fowl,  water 
animals,  cattle,  and  beasts,  moving  living  crea- 
tures. 2d,  That  this  "  bringing  forth  "  was  due 
to  no  inherent  power  in  the  water  or  the  ground, 
and  that  God  claims  creatorship  or  makership  of 
all.f  3d,  That  these  events  occurred  after  the 

*  Darwin,  Origin  Species,  p.  289,  1873. 

f  The  Account  says  God  created  the  water  fauna  and 
that  he  made  the  land  fauna.  What  difference  underlies 
this  use  of  these  two  words,  I  am  unable  to  say.  The 
further  advance  of  Science  may  at  some  future  time  ex- 
plain  it. 


CREATION   OF    ANIMALS.  179 

great  climatic  change  which  introduced  varying 
seasons  and  unequal  days  and  nights,  and  which, 
if  my  reasoning  is  correct,  corresponds  with  the 
Glacial  Epoch. 

During  that  time  of  cold  there  was  a  very 
general  destruction  of  living  creatures,  especially 
of  "  cattle  and  beasts  "  and  other  vertebrates,*  yet 
subsequently,  as  we  daily  see  about  us,  cattle, 
beasts,  birds,  and  other  vertebrates  abounded. 
While  these  are  all  of  species  different  from  those 
that  preceded  the  glaciers,  yet  they  bear  many 
marks  of  resemblance,  so  many  that  some  Scientists 
think  them  accidental  varieties. 

Believing  as  I  do  that  the  miracles  recorded  in 
the  Bible  are  veritable  historical  facts,  I  feel  my- 
self at  liberty  to  use  them  so  far  as  I  see  n't  for 
the  purposes  of  my  argument.  Nor  can  I  admit 
the  unscientific  character  of  such  use,  as  long  as 
the  very  existence  of  physical  science  depends 
upon  the  truth  of  the  propositions  enunciated  in 
the  first  Chapter  of  Genesis,  itself  a  miracle. 

From  an  examination  of  the  miracles  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  we  learn  that  it  is  God's 
habit,  so  to  speak,  to  act,  as  far  as  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case  permit,  in  accordance  with  the 
ordinary  laws  of  nature,  and  to  avail  himself  of 
the  most  closely  related  means  and  material,  inter- 

*  Dana,  Manual  of  Geol.,  p.  518,  1874.  All  the  Fishes, 
Reptiles,  Birds,  and  Mammals  of  the  Tertiary,  are  extinct 
species. 


ISO  GENESIS   AND   SCIENCE. 

fering  divinely  only  at  the  moment  of  absolute 
need. 

When  Christ  would  furnish  the  marriage  feast 
of  his  humble  friends  with  wine,  he  did  not  com- 
mand wine  to  appear,  but  he  bade  the  servants 
themselves  fill  the  jars  with  water,  and  draw  out 
and  bear  to  the  guests.  All  this  was  done  in  the 
ordinary  manner  and  in  strict  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  Nature.  Christ  only  supplied  what 
needed  to  be  added  to  convert  the  water  into 
"  good  wine." 

When  he  fed  the  multitude,  he  used  the  ma- 
terials at  hand,  the  loaves  and  fishes,  blessed  and 
broke  in  the  usual  manner,  and  directed  his  dis- 
ciples to  distribute  to  the  people,  his  power  being 
applied  to  the  one  thing  they  could  not  do,  viz. 
increasing  the  stock  of  food. 

When  God  formed  Eve,  he  did  not  create  her 
from  the  dust  of  the  earth ;  but  he  employed  a 
method  then  and  now  in  existence  for  other 
orders  of  beings,  which  naturalists  call  "  fission." 
He  took  from  the  solitary  Adam  a  part,  a  scion,  or 
cutting,  and  from  it  he  made  (or  built  up)  a  woman. 
Here  certainly  is  the  positive  testimony  of  an  eye- 
witness whose  veracity  has  stood  every  test,  that, 
in  the  case  of  our  race  at  least,  there  was,  as  to  the 
female  element,  no  Darwinian  Evolution.  The 
contradiction  is  absolute. 

Turning  to  the  Record  of  the  Rocks,  we  find 
that  in  this  Glacial  period,  all  higher  animal  life 


CREATION    OF   ANIMALS.  181 

perished,  and  that  consequently  a  repeopling  of  the 
world  by  the  ordinary  methods  was  impossible. 
The  same  Record  tells  us  that  land  and  sea 
abounded  in  the  remains  of  the  perished  fauna, 
and,  from  the  discoveries  in  the  ice  of  Siberia,  it  is 
probable  that  numerous  perfect  bodies  were  pre- 
served by  the  glacier  itself. 

In  subsequent  portions  of  the  Bible  we  are  told 
that  the  bodies  of  men  shall  hereafter  be  raised 
from  the  grave,  by  divine  power,  and  be  trans- 
formed as  Spiritual  bodies  to  a  higher  state  of  ex- 
istence, Here  facts  fail  me;  beyond  this  I  can 
only  conjecture.  But  to  what  do  these  facts,  few 
as  they  are,  point  ? 

The  problem  was  to  repeople  the  earth  after 
the  destruction  of  the  Glacial  period,  and  to  do  it, 
as  far  as  possible,  in  harmony  with  God's  usual 
laws. 

As  I  interpret  and  coordinate  the  facts,  this  is 
their  story. 

Bleak,  naked  and  silent  after  the  long  winter, 
the  m  earth  had  within  its  bosom  the  yet  living 
seeds  and  germs  of  the  pre-glacial  vegetation,  which 
no  degree  of  cold  had  been  able  to  destroy,  and 
which,  under  the  vivifying  influence  of  returning 
heat,  clothed  the  land  in  verdure.  "  Everywhere, 
from  beds  of  ancient  glacial  materials,  vegetation 
was  bursting  forth  and  announcing  itself."  * 

This  would  be  in  harmony  with  the  ordinary 

*  Winchell,  Sketches  of  Creation,  p.  270. 


182  GENESIS   AND    SCIENCE. 

laws  of  this  great  division  of  organic  being. 
Seeds  and  germs  retain  their  vitality  by  a  power 
impressed  upon  them  by  the  Creator,  for  a  period 
to  which,  as  yet,  we  do  not  know  the  limit. 

In  regard  to  ancient  life,  two  courses  were  left 
open  to  the  Divine  Architect.  He  might  start  de 
novo  with  a  new  creation,  or  He  might  employ 
the  means  at  hand,  and  cause  the  entombed  bodies 
and  the  "  dry  bones "  to  live.  It  would  seem 
more  in  accordance  with  God's  sparing  use  of  mi- 
raculous power  that  he  should  breathe  life  into  the 
frames  that  lay  prepared  before  him,  than  that  he 
should  create  them  anew,  and  then  breathe  life 
into  them. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  a  priori,  which  course  was 
actually  pursued,  but  turning  to  the  words  of  our 
Eye-Witness,  I  find  that  the  waters  and  the  earth 
u  brought  forth  "  the  new  fauna,  and  I  know  there 
lay  dormant  or  dead  in  the  waters  and  the  earth, 
myriads  of  the  former  fauna  closely  allied  to  those 
which  have  succeeded  them. 

These  bodies  or  frames,  then,  may  have  been 
raised  by  Divine  power,  and,  by  God's  plastic  hand, 
may  have  been  added  or  removed  those  parts  and 
peculiarities  which  mark  the  difference  between 
the  species  of  to-day  and  those  of  an  earlier  period. 

Hence  the  marvelous  resemblances,  the  "  re- 
miniscent traces"  of  former  stages  of  being,  as 
well  as  the  peculiar  and  infinitely  wise  adaptation 
of  parts  to  the  circumstances  of  being.  The  Mas- 
ter's hand  makes  itself  seen  in  the  variety  as  well 


CREATION  OF  ANIMALS.  183 

as  the  perfection  of  its  work.  It  would  seem  as  if 
every  process  of  life  was  performed  in  as  many 
ways  as  possible.  When  eating,  man  carries  his 
food  to  his  mouth  by  the  hand ;  the  fish,  with 
neither  neck  nor  arms,  carries  himself  to  his  food. 
The  elephant  takes  his,  by  reaching  out  his  nose ; 
the  horse  and  tapir,  by  their  upper  lips;  the  fish- 
huwk  holds  his  prey  with  his  feet,  while  the  croco- 
dile drives  his  into  his  mouth  by  a  blow  of  his 
tail.  In  all  this  variety,  which  extends  into  almost 
every  process  of  life,  there  is  such  perfect  har- 
mony, such  exquisite  adaptation,  that  a  naturalist 
can,  from  a  single  tooth,  build  up  a  description  of 
the  animal  that  carried  it.  Nor  could  any  amount 
of  reasoning  convince  him  that  a  tooth  which  he 
had  picked  up  in  his  rambles,  belonged  indiffer- 
ently to  a  cow  or  to  a  tiger,  or  that  it  might  have 
happened  to  grow  in  the  mouth  of  a  fish. 

Moreover,  such  an  origin,  equally  well  with 
Darwinism,  accounts  for  the  relationships  of  fauna 
past  and  present,  and  for  the  persistence  of  types 
in  the  same  locality  from  their  first  origin  in  re- 
mote geological  periods,  a  persistence  unbroken 
even  by  the  great  telluric  catastrophe  of  the 
Glaciers. 

As  has  already  been  said,  the  process  of  organic 
creation  went  on  through  all  the  u  days  "  from  the 
third,  and  ceased  only  after  the  creation  of  Eve, 
when  God  entered  upon  the  rest  of  the  Seventh  day. 

Whether,  on  the  morrow  of  the  day  following 
this  first  Sabbath,  or  on  any  day  subsequent,  God 


ISi  GENESIS    AND    SCIENCE. 

resumed  his  creative  work,  the  Bible  is  silent.  It 
is  left  to  man  to  study  on,  and  to  discover  if  he 
can.  One  thing,  however,  is  certain,  if  the  Bible 
makes  no  assertion  about  it,  their  fears  are  ground- 
less who  dread  Scientific  inquiry. 

It  may  be  that  my  Scientific  sight  is  not  suffi- 
ciently clear,  but  to  me  such  an  origin  as  I  have 
described,  is  infinitely  freer  from  difficulties  than 
that  which  traces  man's  descent  from  an  ascidian, 
and  that  without  supervising  Intelligence. 

I  cannot  reconcile  my  belief  in  an  infinitely 
powerful  and  wise  Being,  with  a  plan  slowly  work- 
ing up  to  perfection  through  an  infinite  series  of 
chance  results,  the  vast  majority  of  which  were 
either  so  imperfect  as  never  to  arrive  at  maturity, 
or  if  matured,  unable  to  continue  their  kind. 

Allusion  was  made,  page  178,  note,  to  some 
occult  truth  underlying  the  use  of  "  create,"  v.  21, 
and  "  made,"  v.  25. 

If  my  conjecture  as  to  God's  mode  of  pro- 
ducing the  animals,  be  founded  in  fact,  perhaps 
the  more  complete  disintegration  of  the  water 
fauna,  rendered  necessary  a  re-creation ;  while  the 
almost  perfect  preservation  of.  the  land  fauna 
whose  remains  may  have  been  enclosed  in  the  ice 
of  the  Glacial  Epoch  required  comparatively  so 
little,  that  the  process  was  more  appropriately 
described  by  the  inferior  word  "made."  The 
reader  will  at  once  recall  the  Siberian  Elephant, 
whose  remains  were  found  in  a  state  of  perfect 
preservation  near  the  mouth  of  the  Lena. 


PART    III. 

CONTAINING    AN    INQUIRY    INTO 

THE   CAUSE  AND  EPOCH  OF  THE  PRESENT 
INCLINATION  OF  THE  EARTH'S  AXIS. 

TO    WHICH    18    ADDED 

AN  ESSAY  ON   COSMOLOGY. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  work  of  the  u  fourth  day,"  according  to 
the  Mosaic  Account,  was  some  change  of  the  pre- 
existing order  of  things,  which  produced  the  vicis- 
situdes of  seasons,  and  the  varying  length  of  days 
and  nights.  The  "  lights  "  were  to  divide  (the 
time)  between  the  day  and  the  night,  were  to  be 
for  signs  and  for  seasons,  for  days  and  for  years. 
What  the  physical  truth  underlying  this  statement 
was,  we  are  left,  as  in  case  of  other  physical 
truths,  to  find  out  as  best  we  may.  The  problem 
then  is,  how  to  read  those  verses  in  the  light  of 
present  knowledge. 

The  more  ancient  opinion  was,  that  the  Sun, 
Moon,  and  Stars  were  created  on  the  "  fourth 
day,"  a  belief  which  is  sufficiently  answered  by 
the  Account  itself,  which  informs  us  that  what- 
ever it  was  that  occurred,  it  took  place  not  only 
after  the  creation  of  the  "  heaven,"  i.  e.  Sun,  Moon, 
and  Stars,  but  after  the  appearance  of  "  grasses, 
herbs,  and  fruit  trees." 

A  later,  and  perhaps  at  present,  the  most 
prevalent  belief  among  those  who  accept  the  ac- 
count as  true,  is  that  these  bodies  came  into  exist- 


188  INCLINATION    OF    EAKTH's    AXIS. 

ence  when  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
but  had  remained  so  obscured  by  dense  clouds,  as 
to  be  invisible ;  and  that  in  obedience  to  the  Di- 
vine command,  on  the  "fourth  day,"  the  clouds 
and  darkness  cleared  away.  As  to  whether  the 
earth  had  at  that  time  days  and  nights  of  unequal 
length  and  changing  seasons,  and  consequently 
the  axis  had  its  present  inclination,  this  class  of 
thinkers  have  not,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  expressed 
any  opinion,  apparently  taking  it  for  granted.  I 
also  notice  that  the  most  Scientific  of  them  man- 
age, in  some  way,  to  change  the  Mosaic  order  so 
as  to  place  the  appearance  of  the  higher  plants 
after  the  fourth  day. 

This  explanation,  certainly,  has  simplicity  to 
recommend  it,  and  once  accounted  for  all  the 
known  conditions.  But  it  is  without  foundation 
in  the  facts  of  our  world's  history,  and  has  no  bet- 
ter argument  in  its  favor  than  that,  if  it  were  true, 
it  met  the  exigency  which  caused  its  suggestion. 
Apart  from  the  self-evident  truth  that  one  has 
no  right  *to  invent  physical  facts,  the  Geological 
record  is  such  that  the  admission  of  this  theory 
involves  its  supporters  in  inextricable  difficulties. 

Every  one  knows  that  such  a  vegetation  as 
"  grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit  trees,"  requires  the 
direct  actinic  rays  of  the  Sun  for  its  growth  and 
perfection.  The  dense,  persistent  layer  of  clouds, 
which  such  a  theory  demands,  together  with  the 
warm,  moist  atmosphere,  which  we  know  prevailed 


INTRODUCTION.     •  189 

in  the  earlier  history  of  our  world,  would  have 
prevented  the  proper  maturing  and  perfecting  of 
such  plants,  and  consequently  the  production  of  the 
seed.  Hence,  even  had  they  been  created  under 
such  conditions,  they  would  speedily  have  died 
out,  except  by  a  continuous  miracle. 

Moreover,  there  are  in  the  rocks  the  remains 
of  myriads  of  animals  that  lived  and  died  ages  be- 
fore "grasses,  herbs,  and  fruit  trees"  made  their 
appearance,  and  of  course  before  the  work  of  the 
fourth  day.  These  creatures  possessed  eyes  as 
perfect  as  are  found  to-day,  a  Fact  which  forces  us 
to  believe  that  the  animal  and  vegetable  world 
then,  as  now,  enjoyed  the  full  light  of  the  Sun. 

For  these,  and  for  other  reasons  in  reference  to 
the  distribution  of  animal  and  vegetable  life, 
which  will  appear  in  due  time,  I  felt  compelled  to 
lay  aside  this  explanation  as  insufficient. 

I  began  my  search  for  an  answer  to  the  problem 
by  a  caivful  i'.\amination  of  the  narrative  itself. 
From  its  peculiar  and  careful  wording,  it  was  evi- 
dent that  the  thing  done,  whatever  it  was,  caused 
seasons,  had  to  do  with  the  measurement  of  the 
year,  and  the  unequal  division  of  day  and  night ; 
I  noted  an  absence  of  any  allusion  to  months,  the 
most  ancient  and  most  obvious  division  of  time. 
Hence  it  follows,  if  the  narrative  states  a  physical 
truth,  that  the  thing  done  on  the  Fourth  Day, 
producing  such  effects,  must  have  been  a  change 
in  the  inclination  of  the  earth's  axis,  as  nothing 


190  INCLINATION    OF    EARTIl's    AXIS. 

else  would  affect  both  the  "  day  and*  night,"  and 
the  seasons. 

At  once  I  was  met  with  the  statement  that, 
according  to  the  most  careful  observations  and  the 
most  refined  analysis,  no  such  -change  has  ever 
taken  place.  But  Astronomy  observes  only  what 
is  now  occurring,  and  calculates  the  past  and 
future  state  of  our  System,  on  the  sole  condition 
that  the  influences  affecting  it  have  always  been 
and  shall  always  remain  the  same  in  kind  and 
intensity.  On  such  conditions,  it  is  easy  to  calcu- 
late the  eclipses  of  the  next  century  ;  but  how  if 
some  immense  meteor  should  dash  the  moon  out 
of  its  orbit  ? 

The  question  of  possibility  then  resolves  itself 
into  this :  has  there  been  any  difference  in  the 
intensity  of  any  of  the  great  forces  of  nature  ? 

Astronomy,  Geology,  Optics,  Correlation  of 
Forces,  answer  at  once  in  the  affirmative,  and  bear 
witness  that  the  power  of  heat  in  our  System  was 
once  almost  infinitely  intensified. 

The  field  is  then  open.  No  conclusions  of 
Astronomical  Observation  or  Mathematical  Analy- 
sis, bar  the  entrance.  The  investigation  has  car- 
ried me  far  beyond  the  goal  for  which  I  started. 
It  has  gone  out  into  the  mechanism  of  the  uni- 
verse and  brought  solutions  of  many  of  its  pecu- 
liarities and  anomalies. 

I  find,  however,  questions  which  no  action  of 
unintelligent  force  can  explain,  and  for  which  I 


INTRODUCTION.  191 

can  see  no  other  reason  than  the  will  of  the  Great 
Architect.  Nor  should  this  excite  surprise,  since 
it  is  no  less  true  of  the  acts  of  ourselves  and  our 
fellows.  A  railroad  is  a  formation  evolved  from 
rock  and  earth.  Forces  generated  by  the  Sun,  in 
the  growth  of  vegetation,  or  in  the  evaporation  of 
water,  utilized  by  the  muscles  of  men  and  beasts, 
heaped  up  the  long  embankment.  All  this  can  be 
readily  shown,  and  one  can  get  along  thus  far  tol- 
erably well  without  reference  to  anything  higher. 
But  why  the  embankment  is  of  uniform  width, 
and  just  wide  enough  for  the  trains  to  pass;  why 
it  reaches  from  city  to  city;  why,  with  infinite 
labor,  it  tunnels  mountains,  instead  of  taking  by 
"  natural  selection  "  the  easiest  and  shortest  route, 
are  questions  that  can  be  answered  only  by  as- 
suming that  kind  of  guidance  which  we  cull  intel- 
ligence. 

The  work  of  the  fourth  period  is  placed  by 
Moses  after  the  completion  of  the  Continents  and 
the  appearance  of  grasses,  herbs,  and  "  the  tree 
bearing  fruit  the  seed  of  which  is  in  itself,"  and 
before  the  present  living  species  of  fish  and  fowl. 
If,  therefore,  the  account  be  true,  "  not  merely  as 
to  the  facts  asserted,  but  as  to  the  order  of  their 
occurrence,"  the  phenomenon  which  is  described 
must  have  taken  place  in  the  interval,  and  if 
Nature  and  Genesis  agree,  there  must  be  found 
the  physical  cause  of  the  increase  of  the  earth's 
axial  inclination. 


192  INCLINATION   OF   EARTH5 S    AXIS. 

Geology  reveals  to  us  the  interesting  fact  that 
in  this  interval  between  these  biological  epochs 
was  the  era  of  the  Glaciers. 

Geology  also  tells  us  that  before  the  Tertiary 
(the  era  just  before  the  Glaciers)  a  climate  of  won- 
derful uniformity  prevailed  over  the  entire  globe, 
with  "  no  zones  of  climate,"  and  we  all  know  that 
after  the  Glaciers  there  were  and  are  seasons. 
Hence,  during  the  Glacial  epoch,  according  to  this 
Witness,  that  axial  change  must  have  occurred. 

In  the  present  inclination  of  the  Moon's  orbit, 
and  in  the  laws  of  organic  life,  I  found  a  clew 
which  led  to  the  same  result,  viz.  that  down  to 
the  Glaciers,  the  axis  of  the  earth  was  nearly  per- 
pendicular to  the  ecliptic,  and  that  during  this 
period  of  ice  and  cold,  its  inclination  increased  to 
its  present  angle  of  23£°. 

It  then  remained  to  search  for  the  physical 
cause  of  this  movement,  which  was  done  by  an 
exhaustive  examination  of  all  possible  influences 
affecting  our  planet.  This  independent  line  of 
investigation  also  placed  this  important  event  in 
the  era  of  the  Glaciers,  thus  corroborating  my 
former  conclusion. 

It  certainly  is  very  remarkable  that  four  lines 
of  proof,  so  different  from  each  other  in  every  re- 
spect, and  so  entirely  independent,  should  lead  to 
this  same  result. 

The  mode  of  study  and  investigation  pursued 
was  this : 


INTRODUCTORY.  193 

I  first  found  that  anterior  to  the  historic  period 
there  was  a  time  when  the  earth's  axis  did  not 
have  its  present  inclination  ;  that  it  was  normally 
perpendicular  to  the  ecliptic ;  that  at  the  moment 
of  lunar  segregation  it  was  inclined  about  5°  9'. 
I  then  examined  the  facts  revealed  by  Geology  as 
to  the  distribution  of  ancient  vegetable  and  animal 
life,  with  special  reference  to  any  indications  of 
change  of  axial  inclination,  and  as  to  its  biological 
date. 

Having  shown  the  occurrence  of  such  a  change, 
and  fixed  its  epoch,  I  sought  a  sufficient  cause  for 
it,  which  I  found  in  circumpolar  upheavals. 

This  led  to  the  discussion  of  the  effects  of  such 
massive  movements,  and  suggested  the  thought 
that  in  such  might  be  found  the  solution  of  many 
of  the  problems  of  our  Cosmos. 

I  found  that  the  same  physical  cause  had 
operated  throughout  our  System,  and  that  the  ob- 
liquities of  the  axes,  the  eccentricities  and  inclina- 
tions of  the  orbits  of  its  members,  as  well  as  their 
annual  revolutions  and  unequal  times  of  rotation, 
are  the  legitimate  results  of  one  great  law  and 
the  necessary  consequences  of  its  once  nebulous 
condition. 

In  this  discussion,  as  elsewhere,  I  have  drawn 
largely  on  Dana's  Manual  of  Geology,  not  for  its 
theories,  however  admirable,  but  for  its  facts  as 
data  on  which  to  found  or  strengthen  my  argu- 
ments. 

9 


194 

I  find  nothing  elsewhere  to  contradict  any  of 
the  statements  quoted  from  that  work,  save  possi- 
bly as  to  the  present  non-existence  of  any  ante- 
Glacial  species  of  "fish,  reptile,  bird  or  mammal." 
In  general,  the  statement  is  true,  and  most  proba- 
bly so  in  its  broadest  sense.  The  surviving  pre- 
Glacial  species  belong  to  the  lower  orders. 

With  these  explanations,  I  submit  my  thoughts 
on  these  subjects  to  those  whose  matured  verdict 
shall  decide  whether  I  have  followed  a  veritable 
Angel  of  light  or  a  miserable  will-o'-the-wisp.* 

*  I  have  just  received  Dana's  New  Edition  of  his  Ma- 
nual.  On  comparing  the  portions  to  which  I  have  referred, 
I  find  little  to  change.  I  have  altered  my  references  to  cor- 
respond to  its  paging. 


INCLINATION  OF  THE  EARTH'S  AXIS. 


SECTION  I. 

the  most  remote  historical  period  to 
the  present  day,  the  same  alternation  of  sea- 
sons, and  the  same  inequalities  in  the  length  of 
the  days  and  nights,  have  prevailed,  and  from  this 
we  know,  positively,  that  during  this  time  the 
Inclination  of  the  Earth's  Axis,  their  cause,  has 
not  materially  changed.  It  now  amounts  to  nearly 
23£°.  Was  it  always  of  just  this  size,  or  was  it 
once  different  ?  If  different,  when  did  the  change 
occur,  and  what  was  its  cause  ? 

That  the  present  condition  is  not  eternal,  is 
evident,  since  at  the  time  the  Earth  was  an  integral 
portion  of  the  Cosmic  Nebula,  it  had  no  individual 
existence,  and  consequently,  no  axis.  Nor  could 
it  properly  be  said  to  have  one,  even  after  its  avul- 
sion as  a  ring,  from  the  parent  mass.  An  axis,  in 
the  sense  we  are  considering,  was  possible  only 
after  the  "ring"  had  been  gathered  into  the 
spheroidal  body  which  constituted  the  embryo 
planet.  If  that  was  allowed  to  take  position  in 


196  INCLINATION    OF    EARTH'S    AXIS. 

obedience  to  the  laws  of  gravitation  and  motion, 
undisturbed  by  other  forces,  its  axis  was  necessa- 
rily perpendicular  to  the  plane  of  its  orbit. 

For  an  unknown,  but  doubtless  very  long 
period  after  this  aggregation,  the  Earth  and  Moon 
formed  one  Spheroidal  body,  having,  of  course, 
but  one  axis,  which  they  retained  up  to  and  for  a 
longer  or  shorter  time  after  the  latter's  avulsion. 

The  orbit  of  the  Moon  normally  was  in  the 
plane  of  the  Earth's  equator,  and  hence,  if  not  dis- 
disturbed,  the  present  inclination  of  its  orbit  must 
reveal  the  inclination  of  the  Earth's  axis  at  that 
time;  in  other  words,  their  axes  were  then  parallel. 
At  the  present  day  the  axis  of  the  first  is 
inclined  5°  9'  to  the  ecliptic,  while  that  of  the 
Earth  is  bent  from  the  perpendicular  23J°.  A 
separation  of  these  axes  amounting  to  about  18£°, 
has,  therefore,  occurred  since  the  formation  of  our 
Satellite,  which  must  have  been  due  to  a  move- 
ment of  the  Moon  alone,  or  of  the  Earth  alone,  or 
to  both. 

It  will  be  found,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  that  this 
difference  (18£°)  is  almost  wholly  due  to  an  actual 
change  of  position  by  the  Earth,  and  in  a  very 
small  degree  to  a  movement  of  the  lunar  orbit. 

That  the  lunar  orbit  has  undergone  a  less 
change  of  inclination  than  the  Earth's  axis,  is  ex- 
tremely probable,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  now 
18£°  nearer  the  normal  position  than  the  latter. 
Indeed,  La  Grange's  celebrated  Theorem  would 
seem  to  render  it  certain  that  the  change  was 


ITS   CAUSE,  AND   EPOCH.  197 

wholly  a  change  of  the  Earth's  axis,  for  he  has 
shown  that  all  the  forces  now  affecting  the  planets 
or  their  satellites,  act  within  certain  limits,  alter- 
nately increasing  and  diminishing,  but  making  no 
change  in  the  mean  inclinations  of  their  orbits. 
According  to  that,  the  orbit  of  the  Moon  to-day 
has  precisely  the  same  inclination  that  it  had  at 
the  first  moment  of  separate  existence,  and  since 
the  axes  then  were  parallel,  the  present  difference 
is  wholly  due  to  the  Earth.  1  shall,  however,  so 
far  anticipate  conclusions  reached  hereafter,  as  now 
to  say  that  this  does  not  by  any  means  exhaust  the 
subject,  but  that  the  total  result  of  all  forces  now 
or  ever  affecting  the  Moon,  has  produced  a  com- 
paratively small  but  permanent  change  of  the  in- 
clination of  its  orbit,  although  nearly  all  of  the  18£° 
was  due'to  an  increase  of  the  Earth's  inclination. 

The  reader  will  therefore  bear  in  mind  that  an 
increase  of  inclination  amounting  to  the  whole 
of  the  present  difference  between  these  axes,  has 
actually  occurred  at  some  time  since  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Moon,  and  before  the  earliest  historical 
records.  This  was  not  an  oscillation,  but  a  per- 
manent change,  a  fact  which  utterly  destroys  the 
almost  superstitious  belief  in  the  immobility  of 
these  axes,  which  is  commonly  entertained. 

It  must,  therefore,  be  "borne  distinctly  in  mind 
that  the  question,  which  we  are  about  to  discuss, 
is  not  as  to  the  occurrence  of  an  axial  change 
since  the  separation  of  the  Moon  from  the  Earth, 
but  whether  it  occurred  before  or  after  the  nebu- 


198  INCLINATION    OF    EARTH'S    AXIS. 

lous  mass  had  become  solid ;  if  after  solidification, 
whether  before  or  after  the  appearance  of  organic 
life ;  and  if  the  latter,  at  what  Epoch  did  it  take 
place  ? 

From  the  segregation  of  the  Moon  to  the  ap- 
pearance of  life,  there  are  no  facts  known  to  me 
having  any  bearing  on  the  subject ;  we  must  seek 
to  arrive  at  the  truth  by  a  more  circuitous  route. 
If  it  could  be  shown  that  during  the  earlier  Geolo- 
gic Periods  there  was  the  condition  necessarily 
produced  by  an  axis  nearly  perpendicular,  in  the 
then  warm  climate,  we  should  know  that  the  in- 
crease of  axial  inclination  had  not  previously  oc- 
curred. This  line  of  inquiry  is  open  to  us. 

Geology  has  furnished  a  tolerably  complete 
record  of  the  ante-human  races  of  plants  and  ani- 
mals which  have  flourished  upon  our  globe.  In 
this,  if  I  mistake  not,  are  found  facts  that  not 
only  are  in  accord  with  the  reality  of  an  increase 
of  the  inclination  of  the  earth's  axis,  but  fix  within 
certain  limits  the  date  of  its  occurrence. 

Thanks  to  the  labors  of  modern  Scientists,  and 
eminently  to  those  who  style  themselves  Evolu- 
tionists, the  Uniformity  of  Law  is  so  well  estab- 
lished that  entire  confidence  may  be  placed  in 
conclusions  based  upon  it.  We  are  therefore 
justified  in  assuming  that  in  the  earlier  ages  of 
the  world,  as  now,  the  essential  conditions  of  life, 
apart  from  food,  were  light  and  heat. 

The  relation  of  life  to  the  amount  and  distri- 
bution of  light,  is  of  the  most  intimate  character, 


ITS  CAUSE,  AND  EPOCH.  199 

and  as  these  depend  so  largely  upon  the  inclina- 
tion of  the  earth's  axis,  it  is  reasonable  to  expect 
to  find  in  the  fossils  of  polar  regions,  indications 
which  shall  be  of  great  importance  in  the  solution 
of  the  question  under  consideration. 

In  Dana's  Manual  of  Geology,  p.  181  (1874), 
we  are  told  that  "no  marked  difference  between 
the  life  of  the  Primordial  Rocks  in  warm  or  cold 
climates,  has  been  observed."  "  The  eyes  of 
Trilobites  indicate  that  there  was  the  full  light  of 
day."  (p.  209.)  "  No  proof  that  a  diversity  of 
Zones  of  Climate  prevailed  over  the  globe  in  any 
portion  of  the  Lower  Silurian  Era,  as  far  as  yet 
studied."  "  Seven  or  eight  United  States  and 
European  Species  are  found  flourishing  in  tropical 
profusion  on  the  east  and  west  shores  of  Boothia 
and  Fury  Point,  on  North  Somerset."  At  the 
close  of  the  Upper  Silurian,  "  the  living  species 
in  the  waters  between  30°  and  45°  were  in  part 
the  same,  or  closely  allied  in  species,  with  those 
that  flourished  between  65°  and  80°."  (p.  253.) 

In  the  Carboniferous  Period  we  find  coal-beds 
on  Melville  and  Bathurst  Islands,  and  Bank's 
Land.  (p.  352.)  "  Corals  common  to  Europe  and 
United  States  are  found  in  lat.  70°,  others  have 
been  found  in  latitudes  from  75°  to  77°."  (Idem.) 
"  The  coal-beds  of  the  Arctic  are  evidences  of  a 
profuse  growth  of  vegetation.  The  plants  were 
not  mosses  of  peat-swamps,  such  as  now  extend 
far  north.  Through  the  whole  hemisphere,  and 
we  may  say,  world,  there  was  one  uniform  type 


200  INCLINATION    OF    EAKTH5S    AXIS. 

of  vegetation,  and  there  were  genial  waters  for 
Corals  and  Brachiopods.  The  conditions  between 
70°  and  78°  were  analogous  to  those  of  the  United 
States  from  Illinois  to  Texas/'  Reptiles  of  the 
Middle  Mesozoic  are  found  in  lat.  77°  16'  N.,  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  plants  in  Mel- 
ville differed  essentially  from  those  in  Pennsylvania 
or  in  Texas. 

The  italics  in  the  above  are  mine. 

These  facts,  in  reference  to  which  other  author- 
ities agree,  might  be  extended  indefinitely,  but 
enough  has  been  quoted  to  prove  that  "  the  same 
flora  and  fauna  flourished  abundantly  "  from  well 
towards  the  tropics  to  lat.  78°  or  80°,  and  that 
thus  far  the  conditions  of  life  at  those  extremes 
must  have  been  substantially  the  same. 

The  importance  of  light,  as  a  condition  of 
vigorous  life,  is  well  known.  Even  Corals  will 
die,  if  sunk  too  far  below  the  surface  of  the  water,* 

*  I  am  aware  that  it  is  usually  thought  that  Corals  die 
below  a  certain  depth  from  decrease  of  temperature,  and 
there  can  be  no  question  of  the  fatal  effect  of  too  little  heat 
upon  these  tiny  creatures,  but  the  experiment  recorded  be- 
low, certainly  points  clearly  to  the  great  influence  of  light 
upon  the  lower  orders  of  animals.  It  is  well  known  that 
light  is  necessary  to  the  health  and  well-being  of  higher 
organizations,  especially  if  its  absence  is  not  accompanied  by 
cold. 

The  fact  remains  that  Corals  do  die,  when  sunk  below 
300  feet,  a  depth  sufficient  to  greatly  reduce  the  supply  of 
light.  Experiments  as  to  this  influence  are  yet  a  deside- 
ratum. 

In  Appletons'  Journal,  p.  110,  1870,  I  find  the  following: 


ITS    CAUSE,    AND    EPOCH.  201 

and  plants  will  sicken  and  perish  if  deprived  of 
this  necessary  stimulant. 

Wm.  Edwards  placed  in  a  box  twelve  tadpoles,  near  tlie 
usual  epoch  of  their  transformation  into  frogs,  and  weighed 
them,  and  then  plunged  the  box  into  the  water  of  the  Seine, 
at  Paris.  A  greater  number  of  the  same  lot  of  tadpoles  were 
placed  in  a  large  vase,  the  water  of  which  was  changed 
daily,  and  in  which  they  were  fully  exposed  to  the  light 
and  could  come  to  breathe  at  the  surface.  These  were  in  a 
few  days  transformed  into  frogs,  while  only  two  of  the 
other  twelve  underwent  this  change,  and  not  till  long  after- 
wards. In  the  comparative  darkness  of  the  deep  water,  ten 
of  them  remained  in  their  larval  state,  after  they  had  doubled 
or  tripled  in  weight. 

The  above  was  written  before  I  had  an  opportunity  of  ex- 
amining Dana's  "  Corals  and  Coral  Islands,"  where  I  found, 
page  118,  the  following  statement.  Its  bearing  upon  my 
argument  is  obvious : 

"  As  to  the  origin  of  this  small  range  in  depth — about  120 
feet — temperature  must  be  admitted  as  a  cause.  Yet  it  can 
hardly,  in  this  case,  be  the  only  cause.  The  range  of  tem- 
perature, 85°  to  74°,  gives  sufficient  heat  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  greater  part  of  reef  species,  yet  the  temperature 
at  the  100  feet  plane,  in  the  Middle  Pacific,  is  mostly  above 
74°." 

So  it  is  not  lack  of  warmth  that  kills  these  creatures,  nor 
is  it  any  impurity  in  the  water,  for  certainly  the  impurities 
do  not  undergo  any  such  corresponding  increase  of  intensity. 
The  pressure  of  the  water  is  not  an  element  affecting  crea- 
tures that  are  composed  of  tissues  filled  with  water,  and  not 
with  air.  The  only  conceivable  variable  element  capable  of 
producing  any  effect,  is  the  light. 

Nor  is  it  an  objection  to  this  view  that  the  Corals  are 
destitute  of  organs  of  sight,  for  in  no  case  is  the  health  or 
vigor  affected  through  the  eyes  of  any  creature,  and  plants 
whose  sensibility  is  marvelous,  are  as  destitute  of  such 
organs  as  the  Corals. 


202  INCLINATION    OF    EARTH^S    AXIS. 

The  effect  of  light,  or  its  absence,  upon  plants, 
is  a  matter  of  daily  observation,  and  it  is  a  rare 
thing  for  one  to  do  equally  well  in  the  shade  and 
in  the  direct  rays  of  the  Sun.  If  it  be  kept  in  the 
dark,  but  warm  and  moist,  a  pale,  sickly  growth 
ensues,  with  an  absence  of  power  to  produce  and 
mature  seed.  Indeed,  death  follows  if  the  absence 
of  light  be  sufficiently  prolonged. 

If  the  Axis  of  our  Earth  had,  in  those  ages,  its 
present  obliquity,  there  must  have  been  the  cor- 
responding inequality  of  days  and  nights,  an 
inequality  giving,  in  the  highest  latitudes  where 
fossils  have  been  found,  a  day,  in  summer,  of  four 
months'  duration,  followed,  in  winter,  by  a  night 
of  equal  length.  Hence,  if  there  be  any  truth  in 
Uniformity  of  Law,  it  is  impossible  that  the  same 
plants  "  flourished  luxuriantly  "  under  the  almost 
equal  days  and  nights  of  Texas,  and  the  four 
months'  day  and  night  of  lat.  78°. 

The  condition  of  temperature  is  one  that  can- 
not be  ignored.  If  the  earth's  axis  had  been 
inclined  as  now,  23J°,  the  uniform  temperature 
which  prevailed  *  would  have  been  impossible. 
The  short  nights  of  India  suffice,  by  radiation  and 
evaporation,  to  produce  ice  in  sufficient  quantities 
to  be  an  article  of  traffic.  How  greatly  would  the 
effect  be  increased  if  the  night  continued  four 

*  A  great  preponderance  of  ferns  and  lycopodiums  indi- 
cates moisture,  equability  of  temperature,  and  freedom  from 
frost.  (Lyell,  Man.  Geol.,  p.  395.) 


ITS    CAfSK,    AND    EPOCH.  203 

months  instead  of  about  twelve  hours  !  Kadiation 
eo  long  continued  (remember,  the  polar  climate 
was  then  warm  and  moist)  would  result  in  the 
destruction  of  all  tropical  animals. 

If  to  this  it  be  said  that  excessive  radiation 
was  prevented  by  a  covering  of  clouds,  I  answer 
that  the  character  of  the  vegetation,  at  least  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  Tertiary,  forbids  it,  for  at 
that  time,  in  lat.  79°,  were  found  Hazel,  Poplar, 
Beech,  etc.  (Dana,  1874,  p.  315.)  "  A  vigorous 
growth,"  Lyell  says.  Such  a  flora  cannot  admit  a 
darkened  sky,  nor  a  long  night,  warm  and  moist. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  the  warmth  of  those 
polar  regions  was  due  not  merely  to  the  Sun,  but 
in  a  much  greater  degree  to  warm  currents  of 
water,  to  low  lands  of  moderate  extent,  and  more 
or  less  to  internal  heat,  and  therefore  they  were  not 
likely  to  be  so  much  affected  by  radiation  during 
the  absence  of  the  Sun.  And  this  is  undoubtedly 
true ;  but  unless  the  internal  heat  was  so  great 
that  life  at  the  tropics  would  have  been  impos- 
sible, it  cannot  be  that  these  causes  combined 
could  give,  during  the  long  polar  nights,  a  climate 
anywhere  near  the  same  as  that  which  prevailed 
in  the  same  regions  under  the  continued  heat  of  a 
polar  day.  For,  calling  the  total  heat  from  these 
sources  A,  and  the  additional  heat  of  the  Sun  B 
(no  small  quantity  now,  as  navigators  tell  us), 
there  must  certainly  have  been  a  difference  be- 
tween the  temperature  of  the  day  and  that  of  the 


204  INCLINATION    OF    EARTH'S    AXIS. 

night,  equal  to  the  latter  quantity,  a  variation  of 
many  degrees  and  sufficient  to  destroy  any  possi- 
bility of  "  equability." 

Moreover,  the  "  habit "  of  the  carboniferous 
plants  was  peculiarly  favorable  for  the  cold  that 
came  from  evaporation  and  radiation,  to  produce 
its  full  effect.  For  they  did  not  grow  in  great 
masses  of  water,  as  the  Algae,  nor  on  dry  land, 
but  in  moist  places,  where  the  widely  spread  but 
shallow  water  was  eminently  fitted  to  aid  in  the 
process  of  refrigeration. 

It  is  said  that  Arctic  plants  are  found  on  the 
tops  of  high  mountains,  where,  although  they 
have  Arctic  cold,  they  are  also  exposed  to  days 
and  nights  of  comparatively  equal  length,  and  that 
they  flourish  there  as  well  as  in  northern  latitudes 
with  their  long  winter  nights. 

Admitting  the  identity  of  the  species,  which  is 
questionable,*  still  the  cases  are  not  analogous. 
The  Arctic  plants,  accustomed  to  a  stagnation  of 
six  to  nine  months'  duration,  may  well  be  in- 
different as  to  where  that  time  is  spent,  whether 
in  the  cold  and  darkness  of  an  Arctic  night,  or  the 
cold  and  light  of  a  lower  latitude.  But  the  plants 
of  the  Carboniferous  Age  were  not  polar  plants  at 
all,  but  tropical,  nor  were  they  accustomed  to  a 

*  Darwin,  Origin  of  Species,  p.  338,  says, "  It  should,  how- 
ever,  be  observed  that  these  plants  are  not  strictly  Arctic 
forms  ;  for,  as  Mr.  H.  C.  Watson  has  remarked, '  in  receding 
from  polar  towards  equatorial  latitudes,  the  Alpine  or  Moun- 
tain floras  really  become  less  and  less  Arctic.'  " 


ITS   CAUSE,    AND    EPOCH.  205 

sleep  of  six  or  nine  months,  nor  at  that  remote 
period  was  there  any  Arctic  cold  to  produce 
hibernation,  but  a  "  warm,  moist,  equable  atmo- 
sphere," in  which  they  "flourished  luxuriantly." 

Mutatis  mutandis,  the  same  remarks  apply  to 
the  few  plants  of  the  temperate  zone  that  have 
straggled  to  the  far  north  (Smith's  Sound),  whose 
dwarfed  and  scanty  growth  is  in  marked  contrast 
to  the  luxuriant  growth  of  the  coal-forming  period. 
In  like  manner  stand  in  sharp  opposition  the  vig- 
orous growth  on  Spitzbergen,  of  which  I  have 
spoken,  and  the  dwarfed  willows  that  are  to-day 
their  successors.* 

*  To  the  argument  from  Uniformity  of  Law,  and  the 
Conditions  of  Life,  I  find  Lyell,  in  his  Principles  of  Geology, 
page  88,  making  answer  thus : 

"  The  range  of  intensity  of  light  to  which  living  plants 
can  accommodate  themselves,  is  far  wider  than  that  of  heat. 
Palms  have  grown  in  hot-houses  at  lat.  60°  N.,  having  ex- 
tremes  of  19  hours  light  to  only  5  hours." 

REPLY.  The  cases  are  far  from  analogous.  Is  there  any 
evidence  that  Palms  could  "  flourish  luxuriantly  "  and  ma- 
ture their  seed  "  in  a  warm,  moist,  equable  atmosphere/' 
shut  four  months  from  the  action  of  sunlight,  and  then 
endure  its  uninterrupted  power  for  an  equal  time?  By  the 
way,  do  they  mature  at  00°  N.  lat.  ?  On  page  89,  he  says, 
"  we  should  expect  that  in  lat.  65°  at  least,  where  they 
would  never  remain  twenty-four  hours  without  sunlight, 
they  might  still  exist."  Quite  possibly ;  but  surely  this  is 
quite  different  from  four  months'  night,  and  "flourishing 
h&uriantly" 

"  Tree  ferns  grow  in  the  gloomiest  and  darkest  part  of 
the  forests  of  warm  and  temperate  regions." 


206  INCLINATION    OF    EARTH'S    AXIS. 

All  writers  on  Geology  admit  the  non-exist- 
ence of  "  Zones  of  Climate,"  in  these  remote  PC- 
REPLY.  The  conditions  are  not  sufficiently  alike  to  per- 
mit any  analogy.  Diffused  daylight  is  very  different  from  a 
warm,  moist,  equable  night  of  four  months'  duration,  fol- 
lowed by  an  uninterrupted  day  of  equal  length. 

"  The  coal  plants  were  of  perfectly  distinct  species  (from 
living  ones) ;  nay,  few  of  them,  except  ferns  and  pines,  can 
be  referred  to  genera,  or  even  families  of  the  existing  vege- 
table kingdom.  .  .  .  They  may  have  been  endowed  with  a 
different  constitution,  enabling  them  to  bear  greater  varia- 
tions of  circumstances  in  regard  to  light." 

REPLY.  Although  so  many  of  the  coal  plants  were  dif- 
ferent from  modern  kinds,  yet  it  would  be  contrary  to  all  our 
ideas  of  plant  character  being  affected,  and  1  may  say  deter- 
mined, by  its  surroundings,  that  a  flora  so  identical  could 
have  been  developed  under  the  widely  different  conditions 
in  which  we  find  these  plants.  Moreover,  the  ferns  and 
other  vegetable  productions  of  that  period,  seem  to  have 
been  specially  fitted  for  the  large  and  rapid  disposal  of  the 
superabundant  carbonic  acid  which  then  existed,  consti- 
tuting, as  it  were,  an  atmospheric  fertilizer  which  would,  in 
"  the  warm,  moist,  equable  atmosphere  "  of  those  regions, 
have  stimulated  growth  in  the  long  nights.  This,  as  we  see 
now  in  case  of  vegetables  kept  in  a  "  warm,  moist,  equable  " 
but  dark  cellar,  would  result  in  an  abnormal  development 
unfitted  for  all  plant  purposes. 

But  even  if  experiment  should  establish  the  possibility  of 
ferns  and  other  species  of  the  lower  orders  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom  "flourishing  luxuriantly"  in  such  conditions,  it  is 
too  much  to  ask  us  to  believe  that  the  same  would  be  true 
of  the  higher  orders.  The  "  vigorous  growth  of  trees,  as  the 
Poplar,  Alder,  Beech,  Plane,  etc.,"  in  lat.  79°,  a  growth  which 
Lyell  styles  remarkable,  occurred  cotemporaneously  with 
the  Common  Cypress  of  the  Southern  States.  The  vigorous 
growth  in  Spitzbergen  of  Poplar,  Alder,  Beech,  etc.,  of  which 


ITS   CAUSE,    AND    EPOCH.  207 

riods.    The  evidence  is  equally  strong,.in  fact,  iden- 
tically the  same,  that  there  were  no  Zones  of  Light. 
From  the  conditions,  therefore,  of  light  and 
heat,  and   the  universal   prevalence  of  identical 

mention  has  been  made,  was  accompanied  by  the  common 
Cypress  of  the  Southern  States.  (Dr.  Gray.)  There  were  two 
species  of  Lybocedrus  in  the  Spitzbergen  Miocene  (Heer), 
and  one  now  lives  with  the  Redwoods  of  California,  while 
the  other  occurs  in  the  Andes  of  Chili.  (Dana,  Man.,  p.  520.) 
These  indicate  a  climate  very  happily  illustrated  by  the  last- 
mentioned  tree,  a  climate  without  extremes  of  cold  or  heat, 
"  equable  and  mild,"  and  in  such  a  climate  an  entire  flora 
of  nearly  100  species  could  not  have  had  a  remarkably 
vigorous  growth  in  circumstances  so  different  from  their 
present  habit,  as  is  indicated  by  four  months  of  darkness. 

If  to  these  positive  facts  we  add  that  there  is  no  proof  of 
"the  difference  of  constitution"  which  Lyell  suggests, other 
than  the  exigencies  of  the  argument,  I  think  we  may  safely 
dismiss  it  from  further  consideration. 

If  to  this  it  be  replied  that  Willows,  "  stunted  and 
dwarfed,"  do  actually  grow  in  those  same  northern  regions 
at  the  present  day,  notwithstanding  the  long  nights,  I  reply 
that  this  ability  to  survive  the  present  winter  is  no  evidence 
that  they  could  have  "  flourished  vigorously  "  there  when  the 
entire  year  was  warm.  As  has  been  said  in  reference  to 
Arctic  plants  (or  species  resembling  them)  growing  on  the 
cold  tops  of  tropical  mountains,  a  plant  that  is  exposed  to 
sufficient  cold  to  cause  hibernation,  may  well  be  indifferent 
whether  that  period  of  torpor  is  passed  in  cold  and  continued 
darkness,  or  in  cold  with  the  tropical  alternation  of  days  and 
nights  of  tolerably  uniform  length. 

Lyell's  difficulty  lies  in  the  assumption  that  an  increase 
of  the  Earth's  axial  inclination  is  absolutely  inadmissible. 
But  the  astronomical  argument  proves  not  only  its  possi- 
bility, but  its  actual  occurrence.  The  only  remaining  ques- 
tion is  as  to  the  epoch  at  which  it  took  place. 


208 

species,  I  am  compelled  to  believe,  unless  "  Uni- 
formity of  Law  "  is  a  delusion,  that  down  to  the 
end  of  the  Mesozoic,  perhaps  to  the  Pliocene,  the 
axis  of  the  earth  had  not  changed  from  its  inclina- 
tion at  the  epoch  of  its  avulsion  from  the  Moon, 
and  consequently  was  nearly  perpendicular  to  the 
ecliptic,  a  conclusion  which  fully  accords  with  my 
previous  assertion  that  the  present  difference, 
(nearly  18£°)  between  the  inclination  of  the  Moon's 
orbit  and  the  Earth's  equator  (or  between  their 
axes)  is  principally  due  to  a  movement  of  the 
Earth  itself.  This  we  shall  find  confirmed  here- 
after by  another  and  entirely  independent  line  of 
argument. 

From  this  time  to  the '  Glaciers,  I  see  no  evi- 
dence of  Zones  of  light.  The  fauna  and  flora  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  Tertiary,  indicate  a  lower 
temperature,  but  nothing  to  indicate  a  variation 
in  respect  to  light  from  previous  conditions.  It 
is  true  the  earth  was  growing  colder.  The  isother- 
mal lines  were  gradually  falling  towards  the  equa- 
tor, but  this  apart  from  evidence  of  polar  nights 
and  consequent  vicissitudes  of  seasons. 

This  reduction  of  temperature  was  the  result, 
in  part,  of  loss  of  internal  heat,  in  part  of  an  in- 
crease of  polar  lands,  and  a  change  in  direction  of 
polar  currents. 

Such  a  decrease  of  temperature  in  the  higher 
latitudes,  accords  also  with  the  fact  that  the  Sun's- 
greatest  altitude,  at  that  time,  in  regions  outside 


ITS   CAUSE,    AND    EPOCH.  209 

of  the  present  tropics,  was  18£°  less  than  it  is 
now.  In  the  latitude  of  New  York,  the  Sun  then 
rose,  in  midsummer,  only  to  the  height  it  now 
attains  in  the  north  of  Labrador,  and  at  London  it 
rose  only  as  high  as  it  now  does  at  North  Cape. 
In  other  words,  the  Sun  rose  at  midsummer  to  no 
greater  height  than  it  now  attains  in  the  first  week 
of  April. 

There  are  few  indications  of  what  occurred 
during  the  Glacial  Period.  It  has  no  fauna  nor 
flora,  to  write  its  history  in  hieratic  characters.  Its 
page  is  almost  blank  ;  a  few  rude  scratches,  and 
many  confused  blots  of  debris,  are  almost  all. 
But  after  its  close,  as  life  and  verdure  again,  as  on 
a  resurrection  morning,  clothed  the  earth,  we  find, 
for  the  first  time,  unmistakable  signs  of  changing 
seasons,  and,  consequently,  days  and  nights  of  un- 
equal length.  Hence  the  Epoch  of  this  great 
event,  the  increase  of  the  inclination  of  the  earth's 
axis  is  here,  in  this  winter  of  our  globe.  It  lies 
between  the  culmination  of  the  vegetable  king- 
dom and  the  completion  of  continental  emergence 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  development  or  appear- 
ance of  the  post-glacial  fauna  on  the  other,  a 
fauna  which,  by  all  analogy,  should  resemble  that 
of  present  circumpolar  regions,  the  full  develop- 
ment of  fowl  and  water  animals  of  the  present 
day.  In  other  words,  the  date  of  this  event  is  to 
be  found  between  the  grasses  and  fruit  trees  of 
the  last  period  of  continental  preparation,  and  the 
living  species  of  water  and  land  animals. 


210 

SECTION   II. 

It  now  remains  to  seek  for  a  Cause  for  the 
Increase  of  our  Earth's  Axial  Inclination. 

I  shall  attempt  this,  by  an  examination  of  all 
forces  possibly  affecting  our  Globe.  As  far  as  I 
can  discover,  there  are  only  five. 

1.  A  Miraculous  Interposition. 

2.  The  Magnetic  Influence  of  the  Sun. 

3.  Collisions  with  Meteors. 

4.  Centrifugal  force  generated  by  the  upheaval 
or  depression  of  portions  of  the  Globe. 

5.  The  attraction  the  Sun,  Moon,  and  Planets 
on  such  upheavals. 

I  dismiss  as  unworthy  of  serious  consideration 
the  unphilosophical  and  unscientific  idea  that 
somehow,  without  cause,  the  world  in  the  process 
of  formation  from  a  Nebula,  got  a  cant  to  one  side. 
Yet  this  is  the  unexpressed  belief  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  men,  otherwise  scientific. 

A  MIRACULOUS  INTERPOSITION. 

The  incalculable  importance  of  the  inclination 
of  the  earth's  axis,  together  with  an  inability  to 
assign  any  physical  cause  for  it,  has  induced  many 
persons  to  refer  it  to  the  special  interference  of 
the  Creator,  by  which  they  mean,  not  God  acting 
through  his  laws,  but  outside  of,  or  even  contrary 
to  his  usual  mode  of  action,  and,  as  is  implied  in 
the  word  special,  something  peculiar  to  our  planet. 


CAUSE   FOB   INCREASE.  211 

But  any  explanation  based  upon  the  belief 
that  this  condition  of  axial  inclination  is  peculiar 
to  our  Earth,  is  seen  to  be  untenable  as  soon  as  our 
view  extends  beyond  our  planet,  and  we  learn 
that  every  member  of  the  Solar  System  revolves 
about  an  axis  more  or  less  oblique  ;  and  not  only 
that,  but  that  the  axis  of  each  orbit  is  also  bent 
from  the  perpendicular. 

Moreover,  the  "  final  cause  "  of  such  an  inter- 
ference, viz.  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  planet 
may  enjoy  the  benefits  arising  from  changing  sea- 
sons, however  much  it  may  have  affected  the 
Divine  mind  in  the  case  of  our  Earth,  certainly  is 
not  applicable  to  the  others. 

Jupiter's  axis  is  too  little  inclined  to  produce 
any  sensible  effect.  That  of  Venus  is  so  oblique 
that  the  same  spot  is  alternately  exposed  for 
months  to  the  unendurable  heat  of  a  torrid  Sun, 
which  during  that  time  never  sets,  and  an  Arctic 
winter,  where  for  an  equal  time  the  Sun  never 
rises.  The  Sun,  where  seasons  are  impossible,  has 
an  axial  obliquity  more  than  twice  as  great  as  that 
of  Jupiter,  while,  to  crown  it  all,  Uranus  has  its 
axis  inclined  20°  more  than  is  needed  to  give  it 
the  very  seasons  it  now  enjoys.  In  addition  to 
all  these,  to  say  nothing  of  the  position  of  the 
axis  of  our  Moon,  there  are  the  varying  inclina- 
tions of  the  orbital  axes,  which  have  no  relation 
whatever  to  days  or  seasons. 

The  fact  then  that  the  axis  of  every  member 


212 

ofHhe  Solar  System  and  of  every  orbit  is  bent  from 
the  perpendicular,  clearly  indicates  the  action  of 
some  general  law  implanted  in  the  constitution 
of  the  Cosmos.  While  the  variety  in  the  effects 
produced,  proves  that  it  acted  on  each  separately, 
that  is  to  say,  after  its  segregation  from  the  origi- 
nal nebula,  the  individuality  of  character  im- 
parted, reveals  the  existence  of  some  cooperating 
local  force. 

I  am  therefore  compelled  to  conclude  that  the 
solution  of  this  problem  is  not  to  be  found  in  a 
Miraculous  Interposition. 

THE  MAGNETIC  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  SUN. 

The  Sun,  as  is  well  known,  has  a  magnetic 
influence,  since  the  needle  responds  to  certain 
phenomena  in  that  body. 

Is  the  present  position  of  the  Earth's  axis  a 
residual  of  some  former  state  of  greater  magnetic 
power  ? 

Omitting  all  reference  to  the  fact  that  such  a 
condition  is  purely  hypothetical,  I  find  reasons  to 
reject  the  proposed  solution  of  the  problem  in  the 
laws  of  Magnetic  action. 

When  a  large  magnet  is  held  at  some  distance 
from  another  which  is  free  to  move,  the  latter  at 
once  assumes  a  position  parallel  to  it  and  follows 
every  change  of  its  position.  Consequently,  if 
this  power  had  affected  the  earth  and  other  planets, 
their  axes  must  have  been  at  that  time  parallel  to 


CAUSE   FOR   INCREASE.  213 

the  Sun's,  and  they  should  even  now  retain  the 
same  degree  of  obliquity,  a  result  so  contrary  to 
the  present  facts  that  the  only  conclusion  possible 
is  that  the  Magnetic  Influence  of  the  Sun  is  not 
the  force  we  seek. 

To  this  it  may  be  added  that  such  an  explana- 
tion, if  true,  would  leave  the  inclinations  of  the 
orbits  unaccounted  for. 

THE  EFFECTS  OF  METEORS. 

In  the  opinion  of  some,  the  collision  of  meteors 
with  the  planets  has  played  an  important  part 
in  the  formation  and  arrangement  of  the  Solar 
System. 

A  collision  with  a  meteor  of  sufficient  size 
would  undoubtedly  affect  the  inclination  of  the 
planet's  axis,  as  well  as  that  of  its  orbit,  and 
would  increase  or  diminish  the  latter's eccentricity. 
But  as  meteors  are  extra-Cosmical  bodies,  coming 
from  every  part  of  the  Universe,  the  probability 
of  their  producing  as  their  resultant,  any  great 
effect,  is  infinitely  small,  since  a  blow  in  one  di- 
rection would  sooner  or  later  be  neutralized  by 
one  in  the  opposite. 

Moreover,  any  such  collision  on  a  great  scale 
upon  the  earth,  since  life  appeared,  would  have 
left  unmistakable  evidence  of  its  action.  And  if 
to  this  it  be  said  the  present  condition  is  the  re- 
sult of  an  infinite  number  of  small  collisions,  the 
difficulty  is  increased,  for  that  would  render  it 


214  INCLINATION   OF   EARTH'S   AXIS. 

necessary  to  show  a  preponderance  of  blows  in  one 
direction  for  an  infinite  number  of  years. 

The  difficulties  are  too  great,  the  hypotheses 
too  many,  for  the  acceptance  of  a  theory  having 
so  small  a  foundation  in  facts.* 

CENTRIFUGAL  FORCES. 

If  our  earth  were  a  perfect  sphere,  and  a  por- 
tion had  been  so  upheaved  as  to  project  beyond 
the  surface,  it  follows  from  the  laws  of  motion  that 
the  centrifugal  force  generated  by  this  mass,  as  it 
revolved  about  the  axis  of  the  sphere,  would  not 
be  neutralized,  but  would  be  a  free  force ;  and  it 
has  been  said  that  this,  exerted  long  enough, 
would  give  any  required  inclination  to  the  axis. 
This  force  I  now  propose  to  examine. 

Let  Fig.  1  represent  a  homogeneous  sphere 
revolving  freely  on  its  axis  AA',  in  the  direction  of 
the  arrow-head,  and  let  M  be  a  heavy  mass,  small 
in  proportion  to  the  sphere,  fixed  upon  and  pro- 
jecting from  the  surface  at  a  sensible  distance 
from  the  pole. 

The  centrifugal  force  generated  by  M  will 
cause  it  to  recede  from  the  pole  ;  but  as  the  sphere 
revolves,  M  moves  to  the  left,  and  still  drawing 
away  from  the  pole,  there  results  a  movement  to- 
wards N  and  again  at  M"  towards  N'.  In  other 

*  It  may  be  true  that  meteors  have  more  or  less  to  do 
with  the  varying  masses  of  the  planets,  but  this  lies  outside 
of  my  present  inquiry. 


CAUSE    FOR   INCREASE.  215 


FIGURE  1. 

words,  there  arises  a  movement  from  A  on  every 
side  towards  the  equator,  which  can  only  occur  by 
M  apparently  sliding  at  each  revolution  a  little 
farther  down  the  great  circle  PMO  until  it  ar- 
rives at  the  equator,  when  the  longest  diameter 
(that  passing  through  M)  will  be  perpendicular  to 
the  axis,  and  the  system  again  in  equilibrium. 
Of  course  M,  being  fixed  upon  the  sphere,  causes 
it  to  move  in  the  same  sense. 

From  this  it  follows  that  the  latitude  of  M 
has  changed,  while  the  axis  of  the  sphere  has 
remained  parallel  to  itself. 

If,  instead  of  a  mass  added  to  the  sphere,  a 
portion  had  been  removed,  forming  a  depression, 
a  precisely  similar  result  would  have  followed,  but 
in  a  contrary  sense. 


216  INCLINATION    OF   EARTH'S    AXIS. 

A  mass  equal  to  M,  placed  at  the  opposite 
extremity  of  a  diameter  passing  through  it,  would 
double  its  effect,  while  an  equal  depression  at 
that  point,  would  neutralize  it.  And  in  general, 
if  the  great  circle  passing  through  M  be  divided 
into  quadrants,  calling  that  in  which  M  is  1,  and 
numbering  to  the  right,  the  effect  of  M  will  be 
increased  by  a  protuberant  mass  in  1  or  3,  and 
diminished  by  one  in  2  or  4 ;  while  a  depression 
would  produce  the  opposite  result. 

From  all  of  which  it  follows  that  no  possible 
combination  of  elevations  and  depressions  can,  by 
their  centrifugal  force,  produce  any  effect  upon 
the  direction  of  the  axis  of  the  earth.* 

*  It  may  prove  interesting  to  verify  this  truth  by  actual 
experiment.  For  this  a  simple  modification  of  the  Gyroscope 
may  be  used.  Procure  a  ball  of  hard  wood  some  five 
inches  in  diameter,  with  an  axis  of  wire  projecting  an  inch 
or  so  at  each  pole.  Procure  also  a  scale-beam  of  light  wood, 
of  the  same  length  as  the  axis.  Suspend  this  in  the  usual 
manner  by  a  light  cord,  taking  care  that  the  beam  shall  be  so 
adjusted  that  when  loaded  the  centre  of  gravity  and  point 
of  support  shall  coincide.  At  the  extremities  attach  equal 
strings  with  loops  of  wire  in  which  may  rest  the  extremities 
of  the  axis  of  the  sphere. 

This  apparatus  will  possess  great  freedom  of  motion,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  sphere  will  remain  at  rest  in  any  posi- 
tion, being  in  all  respects  in  a  state  of  indifferent  equilibrium. 
When  set  to  revolving,  it  will  exhibit  the  usual  phenomena 
of  the  Gfyroscope. 

A  piece  of  lead  may  then  be  fixed  with  a  screw  upon  the 
surface  at,  say,  45°  from  the  equator,  and  another  of  equal 
size  and  weight  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  diameter,  pass- 


CAUSE   FOR   INCREASE.  217 

The  fact  that  the  earth  is  not  a  sphere,  but 
an  oblate  spheroid,  presents  no  real  change  of 
condition.  For  it  may  be  considered  a  sphere 
with  an  equatorial  protuberance  completely  belt- 
ing it. 

In  this  case,  as  M  recedes  from  A,  the  portion 
of  the  belt  below  it  will  recede  an  equal  distance 
from  the  equator,  while  on  the  opposite  side  the 
protuberance  will  rise  above  it,  and  these  being 
in  reference  to  M,  in  quadrants  2  and  4,  will 
tend  to  neutralize  ks  effect,  the  one  increasing 
and  the  other  diminishing  as  M  approaches 
the  equator,  until  the  system  is  again  in  equi- 
librium. 

Hence,  in  an  oblate  spheroid,  as  well  as  in  a 
sphere,  it  would  be  possible  to  make  the  latitude  of 
places  vary  indefinitely,  but  no  combination  of 
elevations  or  depressions  could,  by  their  centri- 
fugal forces,  affect  the  position  of  the  axis. 

If,  in  the  last  case,  M.were  removed,  the  pro- 
ing  through*  the  first.  The  system  will  still  be  in  equi- 
librium. 

If,  now,  the  sphere  be  made  to  revolve  with  moderate 
rapidity,  it  will  rotate,  not  around  the  original  axis,  but 
around  one  nearly  parallel  to  its  normal  position,  while  the 
former  (the  original  axis)  will  revolve  with  the  sphere,  the 
projecting  end  describing  a  circle  about  the  new  pole.  The 
lack  of  absolute  parallelism  is  due  to  the  difficulty  of  start- 
ing the  instrument  without  disturbing  its  position,  as  well 
as  to  its  having  to  move  a  mass  outside  of  itself  which  is  not 
Asymmetrically  placed. 

10 


218  INCLINATION   OF   EAKTH's   AXIS. 

tuberant  belt  would  return  to  the  equator,  and 
every  place  resume  its  former  latitude.* 

From  all  these  considerations  I  am  brought  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  power  which  affected  the 
position  of  our  planet's  axis,  does  not  lie  in  Cen- 
trifugal Forces. 

The  only  conceivable  force  remaining  is 

THE  ATTRACTION  OF  THE  SUN,  MOON,  AND  PLA- 
NETS ON  MASSES  ELEVATED  ABOVE  THE 
TRUE  SURFACE  OF  THE  EARTH. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  and  similar  discus- 
sions, the  earth  may  be  considered,  without  error, 
as  a  motionless  body  placed  at  the  extremity  of  a 
rigid  radius  of  its  orbit,  but  able  to  move  with 
absolute  freedom  about  its  own  centre.  For,  the 
forces  under  consideration,  i.  e.  the  attraction  of 
the  Sun,  etc.,  being  at  right  angles  to  the  diurnal 
and  orbital  movements,  will  produce  the  same 
effect  upon  the  planet  as  if  those  movements  had 
not  been  in  existence.  A  body  driven  east  with 
a  velocity  of  five*  miles  an  hour,  and  impinged 
upon  by  another  force  capable  of  sending  it  south 
at  the  rate  of  seven  miles  in  the  same  time,  will, 

*  I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  for  my  purpose  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  direct  centrifugal  force  of  M,  and  what 
I  may  term  its  "  turning  power,"  into  which  it  can  easily  be 
resolved.  The  former  increases  as  the  cosine  of  the  latitude, 
while  the  latter  increases  as  the  sin  lat.  x  cos  lat.,  and  is 
therefore  zero  at  the  pole,  increases  to  45°,  and  again  becomes 
zero  at  the  equator.  * 


CAUSE   FOR   INCREASE.  219 

it  is  true,  describe  the  resultant  of  both  forces, 
but  it  is  equally  true  that  it  will  go  exactly  as  far 
south  as  if  the  east  force  had  not  been  applied. 

In  brief,  each  force  performs  its  work  as  if  it 
was  the  only  one  acting. 

Omitting,  therefore,  all  consideration  of  orbital 
or  axial  motion,  we  shall  suppose  the  earth  a 
homogeneous  sphere  placed  91,500,000  miles  from 
the  Sun,  but  free  to  move  in  any  manner  about 
its  centre  of  gravity. 

It  is  evident  that  the  solar  attraction  can  not 
produce  any  movement,  since  its  influence  upon 
one  part  is  counterbalanced  by  another  symmetri- 
cally placed. 

If  the  axis  is  perpendicular  to  the  ecliptic,  the 
attraction  of  the  Sun  upon  a  polar  upheaval  will  be 
equally  without  effect,  since  no  internal  movement 
can  change  the  position  of  the  centre  of  gravity 
(Principia),  and  a  polar  upheaval  would  necessi- 
tate a  sufficient  movement  of  the  remaining  mass 
in  the  opposite  direction,  to  keep  the  equilibrium 
undisturbed,  while  the  intensity  of  the  attracting 
force  on  each  molecule  would  be  unchanged. 
*  But  if  the  axis  were  sensibly  inclined,  say  5°  9', 
and  the  sphere  elongated  in  the  same  direction 
(i.  e.  a  polar  upheaval),  then  one  pole  would  be 
nearer  the  centre  of  attraction  than  the  other,  and 
acted  upon  with  greater  intensity.  Hence  it 
would  be  drawn  towards  the  ecliptic  precisely  in 


220  INCLINATION   OF    EARTIl's    AXIS. 

the  same  manner  and  for  the  same  reason  as  is 
now  the  equatorial  protuberance. 


FIGURE  2. 

Let  Fig.  2  represent  a  homogeneous  sphere, 
witfi  axis  PP'  inclined  to  the  ecliptic,  S  being  the 
Sun.  Suppose  the  sphere  to  be  elongated,  as 
represented  by  the  dotted  lines..  Then,  since  P  is 
nearer  the  Sun  than  P',  it  will  be  attracted  more 
strongly,  and  consequently  drawn  down  to  the 
ecliptic,  and  if  no  force  opposes,  its  momentum 
will  carry  it  as  far -below,  until  stopped  by  the 
action  of  S,  when  it  will  return  to  the  ecliptic,  and 
so  vibrate  back  and  forth  like  a  pendulum. 

An  equatorial  protuberance,  for  similar  rea- 
sons, would  be  an  opposing  force,  which  being 
null  when  the  equator  coincides  with  the  ecliptic, 
increases  as  the  ang.  SOE  increases,  until,  be- 
•  coming  equal  to   the   turning  force  exerted  by 


CAUSE   FOR   INCREASE.  221 

P  and  P',  the  system  again  comes  into  equi- 
librium.* 

From  this  it  appears  that  three  conditions  are 
necessary  to  give  a  homogeneous  sphere  the  posi- 
tion occupied  by  our  earth. 

1st.  That  the  axis  should  already  be  sensibly 
inclined. 

2d.  That  there  should  be  a  polar  upheaval. 

3d.  That  there  should  be  an  equatorial  pro- 
tuberance. 

The  part  which  each  of  these  performs  has 
already  been  sufficiently  indicated.  It  is  in  evi- 
dence that  the  earth's  axis  once  had  an  inclination 

*  It  may,  however,  be  thought  that  the  revolution  of  the 
earth  upon  its  axis  somehow  imparts  such  stability  to  it  that 
a  polar  attraction  would  produce  no  effect. 

The  same  little  instrument  described  on  page  216,  note,  will 
be  useful  as  illustrating  the  truth  of  the  statement  which  I 
have  endeavored  to  establish. 

From  the  sphere,  remove  the  lead  weights  used  in  the 
experiment  described  a  few  pages  back.  We  then  have 
a  modification  of  the  common  gyroscope.  Turn  the  instru- 
ment to  the  right  or  left,  to  give  the  supporting  string  some 
slight  degree  of  torsion.  Then  set  the  sphere  in  rapid  rota- 
tion on  its  axis,  and  allow  it  freedom  of  motion.  It  will 
invariably  be  found  (if  the  experiment  is  performed  with 
reasonable  care  not  to  impart  lateral  or  circular  motion  by 
the  hand  at  the  moment  of  ceasing  to  hold  the  instrument) 
that  the  exceedingly  slight  force  exerted  by  the  tension  of 
the  string,  acting  as  it  does,  perpendicularly  to  the  axis  at 
each  pole,  will  cause  the  sphere,  while  revolving  rapidly  on 
its  horizontal  axis,  to  also  revolve  slowly  about  a  vertical 
one.  Q.  E.  D. 


of  about  5°  9',  while  its  present  oblateness  leaves 
no  question  as  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  third  con- 
dition. 

It  remains  then,  only  to  consider  the  second, 
and  also  whether  any  possible  upheaval  could 
have  been  large  enough  to  overcome  the  stability 
of  the  equatorial  belt. 

As  to  the  existence  of  polar  upheavals.  There 
is  scattered  everywhere  over  the  Geologic  page 
evidence  in  abundance  that  immense  upheavals 
and  corresponding  depressions  have  been  frequent 
in  the  history  of  the  globe,  from  the  earliest 
periods  to  the  present  moment. 

In  general,  these  occurred  in  differently  in 
every  portion  of  the  globe,  and  were  not  of  the 
polar  character  required.  But  the  Glacial  Period, 
towards  which  so  much  independent  testimony 
points  as  the  epoch  of  this  great  movement,  was 
peculiar  for  its  enormous  northern  and  southern 
upheavals.  These  not  only  gave  the  kind  of  up- 
heavals for  which  we  are  seeking,  but  at  the  same 
time,  by  the  necessary,  corresponding  equatorial 
depression,  by  so  much  diminished  the  resisting 
power  of  the  equatorial  belt. 

The  vast  extent  of  these  polar  upheavals  is 
plainly  indicated  by  the  large  area  of  country  over 
which  the  ice  of  the  Glacial  Period  has  left  its 
traces,  an  area  extending  from  the  poles  at  least 
50°  towards  the  equator.  As  to  the  height  of  the 
movement,  or  even  the  thickness  of  the  ice  then 


CAUSE    FOE   INCREASE.  223 

formed,  there  are  no  data  on  which  to  form  any 
exact  estimate.  That  it  must  have  been  considera- 
ble is  shown  by  the  fact  that  stones  frozen  fast  in 
its  under  surface  were  pushed  over  the  tops  of 
most  of  the  mountains  in  the  New  England  and 
Middle  States,  as  proved  by  their  traces  or  striae 
graved  on  the  surface  rocks.* 

*  In  estimating  the  area  of  this  ice-cap,  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  while  the  striae  are  proof  of  the  former  presence 
of  a  glacier,  the  opposite  is  by  no  means  true.  The  striae 
and  the  debris  are  evidence  of  ice  in  motion,  and  they  also 
reveal  the  direction  of  the  movement.  If  from  any  cause 
the  under  surface  was  at  rest,  all  these  indications  would 
be  absent.  It  is  quite  possible  to  imagine  an  immense  ex- 
tent of  country  covered  with  a  great  depth  of  ice  and  snow, 
which  should  leave  none  of  the  characteristic  marks  of 
glaciers. 

Suppose  a  plain  some  thousands  of  miles  in  diameter, 
covered  with  a  moderately  thick  layer  of  ice.  The  edge  of 
this  ice  might  even  be  vertical  ;  but  as  the  height  increased, 
as  layer  after  layer  was  applied  one  above  the  other,  there 
would  at  length  be  a  pushing  out  of  the  lower  portion  and  a 
dropping  down  of  the  "  shoulder  "  of  the  ice  until  a  point 
was  reached  when  the  rigidity  of  the  ice  itself  and  the 
friction  should  become  equal  to  the  moving  force.  This 
movement  would  extend  into  the  great  mass  to  a  distance 
depending  upon  the  height,  i.  e.  the  pressure,  but  in  no  case 
could  it  reach  inward  farther  than  the  point  vertically  under 
the  shoulder  ;  in  fact,  it  could  not  reach  as  far  as  that.  All 
inside  of  this  point  would  be  at  rest,  and  consequently  all  the 
immense  area  within  such  points  would  be  at  rest, and  hence, 
for  many  millions  of  square  miles  so  covered,  there  would 
be  neither  striae  nor  debris.  If  the  surface  of  the  plain 
abounded  in  inequalities,  or  if  it  was  bounded  by  a  riin  of 


224:  INCLINATION    OF    EARTfi's    AXIS. 

The  absence  of  marks  of  great  convulsions  is 
further  evidence  that  this  upheaval  was  due  to* no 
local  action  but  rather  that  it  was  a  telluric  oscil- 
lation, too  vast  to  exhibit  the  ordinary  results  in 
contorted  strata.  Such  immense  lines  admitted  of 
flexure  under  sufficient  force  acting  with  infini- 
tesimal velocity. 

high  lands,  the  needed  depth  of  ice  to  produce  motion  would 
be  greater,  and  the  area  of  no  motion  larger. 

I  can  imagine  a  polar  ice-cap  where  there  should  be  no 
motion  even  at  the  border.  Suppose  this  plain  covered 
with  ice  and  snow  in  such  a  manner  that  the  lower  edge 
is  very  thin,  increasing  imperceptibly  in  thickness  as  one 
goes  towards  the  pole,  but  with  no  high  land  to  give  initial 
motion.  It  ifl  probable  that  the  ice  might  accumulate  for 
centuries,  and  then  melt  and  pass  away  and  leave  no  traces 
behind  it. 

Such  a  plain  is  that  reaching  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to 
the  Arctic  Ocean. 

Should  there  be  on  our  supposed  plain  isolated  mountains 
or  land  slopes,  with  or  without  mountain  chains,  there  would 
be  local  action  as  the  ice-cap  gathered ;  followed,  however,  by 
a  period  of  quiescence,  as  it  became  more  truly  telluric  in 
extent  and  blotted  out  the  surface  inequalities.  As  the  ice 
covering  was  disappearing,  these  mountains  and  slopes 
would  often  produce  the  phenomena  incident  to  local  gla- 
ciers, ploughing  over  the  ground,  grinding  to  powder  the 
rocks,  or  scoring  their  record  on  the  polished  surfaces.  Each 
of  these  elevations  might  become  a  local  centre,  from  which 
the  ice  moved  in  lines  somewhat  radial.  As  it  sank  away, 
new  and  secondary  centres  of  movement,  might  be  developed 
until  the  force  was  exhausted. 

Hence  there  may  be  indications  of  local  glaciers,  which 
in  fact  are  the  residua,  so  to  speak,  of  the  great  telluric  ice 


CAUSE   FOR    INCREASE.  225 

From  all  these  considerations  I  think  there 
can  be  no  question  as  to  the  existence  of  the  kind 
of  upheaval  which  my  theory  requires.  Nor  is  it 
any  reasonable  objection  to  it  that  I  am  unable  to 
give  a  satisfactory  explanation  of  its  cause.  My 
ignorance  has  no  bearing  upon  the  actual  occur- 
rence of  such  a  movement. 

There  are,  however,  some  facts  well  worth  con- 
sidering in  this  connection. 

Upheavals  and  depressions  seem  to  be  normal 
to  all  members  of  our  system.  They  are  occur- 
ring now  on  a  vast  scale  in  the  Sun.  If  some  of 
the  best  observers  can  be  relied  upon,  upheavals 
that  dwarf  all  that  our  theory  calls  for  upon  our 
planet,  are  now  taking  place  in  Saturn. 

Sir  William  Herschel  reports  observing  such 
an  upheaval  on  the  "  shoulders "  of  that  planet, 
so  immense  that  the  greatest  and  least  diameters 
were  to  each  other  as  36  to  32,  that  of  the  equator 
being  only  35,  indicating  a  movement  of  more 
than  1000  miles  outward  on  a  side,  or  reducing  it 

cap,  in  places  where  the  latter  has  left  no  traces  of  its 
presence. 

Mr.  Lyell,  in  his  Principles  of  Geology,  page  107,  says, 
"  We  must  not  omit  to  dwell  on  the  important  effects  to 
which  a  wide  expanse  of  perpetual  snow  would  give  rise. 
It  is  probable  that  nearly  the  whole  sea  from  the  poles  to 
lat.  45°  would  be  frozen  over." 

Such  an  ice- cap  would  deserve  to  be  called  telluric,  and 
in  time  would  freeze  that  portion  of  the  ocean  solid  to  its 
lowest  depths. 

10* 


226  INCLINATION    OF    EARTH'S   AXIS. 

to  the  scale  of  our  earth,  indicating  an  upheaval 
above  the  surface  of  the  sea  of  more  than  100 
miles,  a  movement  vastly  exceeding  the  amount 
needed  for  changing  the  position  of  the  earth's 
axis. 

I  condense  the  following  from  the  Cornhill 
Magazine,  September,  1873 :  That  movements  are 
now  going  on  in  some  of  the  planets  and  in  the 
Sun,  on  an  immense  scale,  is  probable,  from  the 
results  of  the  most  careful  observations.  In  1803, 
Schroter  found  that  Saturn's  figure  was  distorted. 
In  1855,  Coolidge  noticed  the  swollen  appearance 
of  this  planet  about  lat.  20° ;  yet  not  long  after, 
it  resumed  its  usual  form.  The  two  Bonds  have 
seen  the  square  shoulders,  and  have  noticed  other 
variations  of  shape.  It  seems  to  have  been  ren- 
dered probable  by  Secchi  and  others,  that  our 
Sun's  globe  varies  in  diameter. 

As  to  the  mode  of  action  by  which  crumpling 
of  the  strata  was  avoided,  I  might  suggest  what, 
at  least,  is  not  physically  impossible.  If  the  equa- 
tor became  slightly  elliptic,  its  perimeter  would 
not  be  diminished,  while  its  area  would  become 
less,  necessitating  a  northern  and  southern  pro- 
longation. If  the  perimeter  became  slightly  less, 
if,  for  example,  the  present  diameter  became  the 
major  axis,  the  polar-ward  movement  would  be 
vastly  greater.  There  is  even  now,  if  astronomers 
are  not  mistaken,  a  residuum  perhaps  of  that 
movement,  in  the  present  ellipticity  of  the  equa- 


CAUSE   FOR   INCREASE.  227 

tor,  one  of  whose  diameters  is  nearly  two  miles 
shorter  than  that  at,  right  angles  to  it.  If  the 
longer  diameter  remained  unchanged  and  there 
was  no  radial  condensation  (of  which  there  can 
•  be  no  positive  evidence),  such  a  shortening  of  the 
other  diameter  required  an  upheaval  of  33,000,000 
cubic  miles  about  each  pole. 

Unaccountable  as  at  present  such  a  movement 
appears,  it  is  really  no  more  extraordinary  than 
those  which  show  their  traces  in  the  irregular 
perimeter  of  a  section  of  the  earth  parallel  to  the 
equator,  and  far  less  so  than  those  which  have 
been  noted  in  Saturn. 

"Having  established  the  fact  that  a  circumpolar 
upheaval  has  occurred,  it  remains  to  inquire  how 
large  a  one  would  be  needed,  and  whether  one  of 
that  extent  could  have  occurred.  It  is  no  longer 
a  question  of  kind,  but  of  degree. 

And  first  let  me  caution  the  reader  against 
concluding  the  non-existence  of  a  sufficient  up- 
heaval on  account  of  what  seems  to  him  its  great 
magnitude,  for  he  must  remember  that  but  little 
(nothing  ?)  is  known  of  the  cause  of  any  upheaval, 
large  or  small,  and  in  our  ignorance  we  have  no 
facts  whatever  on  which  to  estimate  its  possi- 
bilities. 

To  arrive  at  any  positive  results  it  is  neces 
sary  first  to  determine  the  cubic  amount  of  a  suf- 
ficient polar  upheaval. 

To  reduce  the  spheroid  to  a  condition  of  indif- 


228 

ferent  equilibrium,  it  would  be  sufficient  to  change 
it  to  a  sphere,  a  change  necessitating  a  shortening 
of  the  equatorial  radius  of  about  four  and  a  half 
miles.  The  surface  of  this  sphere,  whose  con- 
tents would  be  exactly  the  same  as  the  spheroid's, 
would  cut  the  surface  of  the  latter  in  the  thirtieth 
parallel  of  latitude,  and  would  recede  from  it  uni- 
formly to  the  poles,  when  the  distance  between 
them  would  be  8.8  miles.  This  earth-cap,  cover- 
ing each  pole,  is  the  measure  of  the  mass  to  be 
added  to  the  spheroid  by  what  would  be,  in  ef- 
fect, a  transfer  from  equatorial  regions.  The  con- 
tents of  these  two  caps  would  be  approximately 
293,000,000  of  cubic  miles.  Any  excess  would 
turn  the  axis  from  the  perpendicular. 

Inconceivably  great  as  is  this  amount,  it  is  lees 
than  one-eighth  of  one  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
mass.  On  a  common  thirteen-inch  globe,  its 
maximum  of  elevation  would  be  less  than  one- 
seventieth  of  an  inch,  an  amount  not  visible  on 
such  a  figure  to  the  closest  observer. 

Still,  relatively  small  as  it  is,  it  is  yet  abso- 
lutely large,  and  needs  to  be  accounted  for. 

Mr.  Lyell,  Prin.  Geo.,  p.  Ill,  has  given  an 
imaginary  map  of  the  globe,  showing  a  possible 
upheaval  of  polar  lands  and  depression  of  equato- 
rial, such,  however,  that  the  amount  of  water  and 
land  surface  remains  unchanged.  This  he  pre- 
sents as  a  supposable  condition  that  would  account 
for  the  cold  of  the  glaciers.  As  the  land  is  raised 


CAUSE  FOR    INCREASE.  229 

above  the  ocean  bottom  three  or  more  miles,  we 
should,  if  Mr.  Lyell's  hypothesis  became  a  reality, 
have  in  that  a  portion  of  the  transferrence  re- 
quired,* no  small  part  either,  for  the  continents 
with  their  shoulders  and  neighboring  shallows 
cover  an  area  of  nearly  70,000,000  square  miles. 
This,  multiplied  by  the  average  ocean  depth,  3 
miles,  gives  say  210,000,000  cubic  miles.  The 
area  of  these  polar  caps  (i.  e.  from  30°  N.  and  S.) 
of  which  we  have  spoken,  is  about  100,000,000 
square  miles.  If  this  were  raised  on  an  average 
5,280  feet,  it  would  add  as  many  cubic  miles. 

To  this  it  may  rightly  be  answered  that  a  part 
of  the  present  land  is  in  these  very  circumpolar 
regions,  and  hence,  in  their  case,  there  would  be 
no  change  of  condition.  Very  true  ;  but  suppose 
tin*  mass  uplifted  is  in  addition  to  the  land  ahv.-uiy 
in  those  parts,  then  the  entire  upheaval  would  be 
a  turning  power.  On  these  hypotheses,  with  the 
effect  of  the  equator  becoming  elliptical,  we  have 
376,000,000  cubic,  miles,  sufficient  to  place  the 
globe  in  a  state  of  indifferent  equilibrium  and 
leave  free  83,000,000  cubic  miles.  Another  mile 
of  elevation  would  add  100,000,000.  Such  an 
elevation  undoubtedly  would  commence  with  a 
gradual  slope  and  increase  towards  the  pole,  where 
a  given  mass  would  be  most  efficient. 

*  I  use  the  words  transfer  and  transferrence  for  conve- 
nience merely.  There  was  the  same  result  that  a  transfer 
would  have  produced,  but  really  no  transfer,  save,  as  I  shall 
show,  of  water. 


230  INCLINATION    OF    EARTH*S    AXIS. 

There  is  another  force  of  no  mean  amount,  yet 
to  be  considered.  I  mean  the  actual  transfer  of 
water  from  the  equator  to  circumpolar  regions, 
and  the  accumulation  of  it  there  as  ice. 

I  have  already  discussed  the  impossibility  of 
predicating  the  absence  of  glaciers,  because  the 
characteristic  striae  are  wanting.  The  ice  over  so 
vast  an  extent  may  have  come  and  gone  and  left 
no  sign  over  large  tracts.  The  polar  regions  be- 
came intensely  cold,  partly  owing  to  the  moderate 
surface  of  water,  partly  to  the  general  elevation  of 
the  land,  partly  to  derangement  of  warm  cur- 
rents, and  partly  to  the  small  altitude  of  the  sun, 
which  then  rose  to  a  height  18£°  less  than  at 
present.  It  may  be  that  our  earth  was  in  one  of 
those  epochs  of  greatest  eccentricity,  of  which  Mr. 
Croll  speaks,  or,  as  has  been  suggested,  our  system 
was  passing  through  a  colder  portion  of  space. 
These  reasons  may  all  be  considered  as  in  part 
explaining  the  intense  cold,  although  for  myself  I 
cannot  accept  as  true  either  of  the  last  two.  But 
the  fact  remains,  the  circumpolar  regions  became 
during  the  epoch  of  polar  upheavals  intensely 
cold.  Land  and  water  became  covered,  down  to 
45°  and  more,  with  a  coat  of  ice.*  The  equatorial 
waters,  by  the  law  of  their  being,  could  never 
cease  to  evaporate,  as  long  as  any  water  remained, 
until  the  air  became  permanently  saturated.  Such 
a  saturation  could  never  occur,  for  the  vapors 
*  Lyell,  Elements  Geol.,  p.  107. 


CAUSE    FOK   INCREASE.  231 

rising  and  passing  into  the  cold  regions  North  and 
South,  discharged  their  moisture,  which,  changing 
to  ice,  remained.  The  vapors  continuing  to  rise, 
continued  to  be  condensed,  towards  the  cold  poles. 
The  operation  was  precisely  similar  to  that  of  the 
common  philosophical  instrument  called  a  cry- 
ophorus.  Every  one  who  has  witnessed  this  experi- 
ment has  seen  the  water  in  the  warm  bulb  pass 
as  vapor  into  the  cold  one,  where  it  is  condensed 
and  frozen,  the  process  continuing  until  the  water 
is  exhausted. 

Hence  it  follows  that  there  was  a  steady  trans- 
ferrence  of  water  from  equatorial  to  polar  regions, 
and  but  for  the  melting  at  the  lower  edge  of  the 
glacier,  the  whole  ocean  must  have  been,  in  time, 
exhausted.  The  result  was  an  immense  polar  ice- 
cap falling  away  towards  the  lower  edges,  while 
the  northern  and  southern  seas  became  iiczen  solid. 

If  one-half  the  equatorial  waters  was  thus 
transferred,  the  ice-cap  must  have  been  equal  in 
weight  to  a  layer  of  the  same  materials  as  the  con- 
tinents, containing  something  like  50,000,000  cubic 
miles. 

Taking  all  these  into  account,  we  have  an  excess 
over  the  polar  earth-caps  sufficient  to  make  our 
spheroid  a  sphere,  amounting  to  say  233,000,000 
cubic  miles.  As  this  excess  was  directly  or  indi- 
rectly taken  from  the  equatorial  portion,  the  defi- 
ciency there  acted  in  the  same  sense,  and  really 
doubled  the  effect. 


232 

In  comparing  the  effect  of  a  circurnpolar  excess 
with  the  influence  of  the  Sun  and  Moon  on  the 
equatorial  protuberance,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  former  was  a  constant  force,  while  the 
latter  is  intermittent,  varying  twice  in  a  year  from 
its  maximum  to  zero. 

I  have  thus  roughly  indicated  the  possible 
working  of  forces  of  upheaval.  The  greatest, 
and  I  may  say  the  only  difficulty,  is  their  vastness. 

I  cannot  say  that  I  attach  much  weight  to  the 
idea  that  all  land  became  polar.  Perhaps  it  would 
be  better  to  say,  without  attempting  any  details, 
that  this  movement  was  caused  by  immense  polar 
upheavals,  aided  by  the  inconceivably  great  ac- 
cumulation of  ice. 

This  storing  of  the  waters  of  low  latitudes  as 
ice  in  circumpolar  regions,  is  an  explanation  of  a 
difficulty  that  has  probably  occurred  to  the  reader 
in  reference  to  the  shortening  of  the  equatorial 
radius,  viz.  that  such  a  shortening  would,  by  the 
ordinary  laws  of  motion,  cause  a  gathering  of  all 
the  water  of  the  globe  at  those  parts,  and  a  con- 
sequent submergence  of  the  continents,  a  deluge 
of  whose  existence  there  has  no  proof  been  dis- 
covered. But  since  the  water  was  carried  by  the 
atmosphere  North  and  South,  and  then  deposited 
as  ice,  any  such  catastrophe  was  rendered  irnpos- 
"sible.  Instead  of  a  deluge,  there  was  more  pro- 
bably a  drought. 

One  other  fact  is  not  out  of  place.     If  the  con- 


CAUSE    FOB   INCREASE.  233 

tinents  retained  their  present  altitude,  the  per- 
sistent evaporation,  with  consequent  loss  of  heat, 
would  of  itself  reduce  the  equatorial  temperature, 
while  the  sinking  of  the  surface  of  the  ocean  would 
produce  the  same  effect  as  elevating  the  land, 
giving  it  a  rarer  atmosphere,  and  less  power  of 
retaining  solar  heat. 

Thus  the  movement  by  its  own  effects  intensi- 
fied itself.  Such  effect,  moreover,  would  explain  the 
fact  that  the  destruction  of  the  higher  pre-glacial 
animal  life  appears  to  have  been  so  universal. 


It  remains  only  to  supplement  this  discussion 
by  showing  that  the  present  difference  between 
the  inclination  of  the  earth's  axis  and  that  of  the 
moon's  orbit  is  not  in  any  large  degree  due  to  a 
movement  of  the  latter. 


FIGURE  3. 


Let  Fig.  3  represent  the  Sun,  Moon,  and  Earth, 
while  the  Moon's  orbit  yet  coincided  with  the 
plane  of  the  Earth's  equator.  We  will  suppose 
too,  that  the  axis  PP'  was  inclined  in  a  sensible 


234  INCLINATION    OF    EAKTH's    AXIS. 

degree  to  the  ecliptic,  say  5°,  a  condition  whose 
origin  and  cause  will  be  considered  in  "  Cos- 
mology." 

At  that  epoch,  then,  the  difference  between 
the  inclination  of  the  Earth's  axis  and  that  of  the 
Moon's  orbit,  was  null.  It  is  evident  that  the 
Sun's  attraction  upon  M  could  not  affect  the  mean 
position  of  its  orbit,  for  the  decreased  inclination 
at  M  will  be  nearly  counteracted  at  M',  leaving  a 
small  residual  in  favor  of  M,  on  account  of  its  less 
distance  from  the  Sun.  This  small  residual  will 
be  fully  counterbalanced  when  the  Earth  has 
moved  to  the  opposite  side  of  its  orbit,  giving 
then  to  M'  an  exactly  equal  superiority  over  M, 
and  leaving  the  total  effect  absolutely  nothing,  in 
exact  harmony  with  La  Grange's  Theorem. 

In  precisely  the  same  manner  it  can  be  shown 
that  the  influence  of  the  other  members  of  the 
Solar  System  lying  outside  of  the  Moon's  orbit, 
will  be  equally  null. 

Ergo,  the  present  difference  of  inclination 
which  we  are  considering,  is  not  due  in  the  least 
to  a  movement  of  the  Moon  caused  by  any  action 
of  Sun  or  planets. 

Could  it  have  been  due  to  a  movement  of  the 
Moon,  caused  by  the  Earth  ? 

The  Earth,  as  a  true  sphere,  could  produce  no 
movement  whatever.  We  must,  then,  look  to  the 
effect  of  upheavals.  I  shall  show  that  no  con- 
siderable part  of  this  difference,  18£°,  is  due  to  a 


CAUSE   FOE    INCREASE.  235 

movement  produced  by  the  attraction  of  massive 
upheavals  upon  the  Earth's  surface. 

Suppose,  all  things  remaining  as  before,  a 
great  upheaval  at  one  of  the  poles  P,  the  Moon 
being  at  M'.  Evidently  M'  would  be  drawn  to- 
wards the  ecliptic,  but  when  it  had  passed  on  180° 
to  M,  it  would  be  drawn  an  equal  distance  away 
from  the  ecliptic.  Hence  no  permanent  effect 
whatever  could  be  produced.  There  certainly  is, 
at  the  present  day,  a  separation  of  18^°.  I  have 
shown  that  it  could  not  possibly  be  due  to  the 
movement  of  the  Moon's  orbit,  hence  there  is  no 
escaping  the  conclusion  that  it  is  due  to  a  move- 
ment of  the  Earth  it. -fit'. 

Quite  possibly  the  reader  may  here  say,  True, 
there  could  be  no  movement  of  the  Moon  gene- 
rated by  massive  upheavals  upon  the  Earth's  sur 
face,  providing  that  the  two  axes  then  had  the 
same  inclination,  and  so  far  your  proposition  is 
the  enunciation  of  a  fact.  But  as  you  have  shown 
that  a  polar  upheaval  upon  the  Earth  would,  on 
condition  of  a  prior  inclination  to  a  sensible 
amount  (5°),  result  in  a  movement  of  the  axis,  so 
it  may  have  happened  that  from  some  cause  the 
Earth's  axis  was  inclined  a  little  more,  causing  the 
plane  of  its  equator  and  the  Moon's  orbit  no  longer 
to  coincide,  then  perhaps  the  remainder  of  the 
18£°  was  due  to  a  movement  of  the  Moon. 

I  shall  endeavor  to  show  that  even  if  these 
were  inclined  at  any  supposable  angle,  very  little 


236 

effect  could  be  produced  upon  the  Moon's  posi- 
tion. For,  first,  the  distance  of  the  Moon  from 
the  centre  of  the  Earth  being  sixty  times  greater 
than  that  of  the  polar  mass  P,  it  is  evident  that 
any  force  exerted  by  P  to  move  M,  will,  by  the 
laws  of  composition  of  forces,  act  at  a  great  mechani- 
cal disadvantage,  while  the  opposite  will  be  true  of 
the  effect  of  M  to  turn  the  Earth,  a  difference  much 
more  than  sufficient  to  counterbalance  the  dif- 
ference in  their  sizes  (masses).  Second,  If  the 
Moon  was  raised  just  as  many  miles  as  the  pole  P 
is  moved  from  its  position,  the  angular  change 
would  be  far  from  equal,  a  movement  of  10°  on 
the  Earth  being  equal  in  miles  to  only  10'  at  the 
Moon. 

Hence  the  conclusion,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  is 
unavoidable,  that  the  movement  of  the  lunar  orbit 
was  very  small ;  a  result  fully  corroborated  by  the 
position  of  all  the  other  satellites  save  one,  the  cause 
of  whose  singularity  will  be  hereafter  discussed, 
and  consequently  that  the  present  difference  be- 
tween the  inclination  of  the  Earth's  axis  and  the 
axis  of  the  Moon's  orbit,  is  almost  wholly  due  to 
a  movement  of  the  Earth  itself. 

CONCLUSION. 

I  conclude  then,  that  the  attraction  of  the  Sun 
and  Moon  upon  polar  protuberances,  is  the  physi- 
cal cause  of  the.present  inclination  of  the  axis  of 
the  Earth. 


RESUME.  237 

A  polar  elevation  acted  upon  by  Sun  and 
Moon,  and  in  some  degree  by  the  planets,  turned 
the  pole  of  the  earth  towards  the  ecliptic  in  an 
ever-widening  spiral,  until,  the  mass  returning  to 
its  normal  position,  the  movement  ceased,  owini^ 
to  the  attraction  of  these  same  bodies  on  the  equa- 
torial belt.  This  attraction  acting  by  itself  would 
have  caused  the  equatorial  protuberance  to  draw 
the  equator  not  only  to  the  ecliptic,  but  by  the 
usual  laws  of  matter  to  pass  on  as  far  beneath, 
until  again  stopped  by  the  attractive  force,  to  be 
again  drawn  hack,  thus,  like  a  mighty  pendulum, 
vibrating  back  and  forth  forever.  This  result 
now  actually  exists,  disguised,  however,  by  the 
axial  and  orbital  motion  of  the  earth,  and  resulting 
in  the  precession  of  the  Equinoxes. 

It  may  be  noticed  as  a  curious  circumstance 
that  during  the  predominance  of  the  polar  attrac- 
tion, instead  of  a  precession  of  the  Equinoxes, 
there  was  an  apparent  movement  in  the  opposite 
direction. 


RESUME. 

• 

AS  TO  THE  EPOCH  OF  AXIAL  CHANGE  OF  INCLINATION. 

1.  There  was  no  telluric  axis  before  the  Earth 
was  segregated  from  the  great  Nebula. 

2.  The  normal  lunar-telluric  axis  was  perpen- 


238  INCLINATION    OF    EARTH'S   AXIS. 

dictilar'to  the  Cosmic  equator,  and  hence,  to  the 
plane  of  the  Earth's  orbit. 

3.  The  lunar  orbit  is  now  inclined  5°  9' 

4.  The  Earth's  axis  is  now  inclined  23£°. 

5.  The  two  were  once   parallel.     They  now 
differ  nearly  18f>. 

6.  This  difference  is  subsequent  to  the  avul- 
sion of  the  Moon,  and  is,  in  only  a  very  small 
degree,  due  to  a  movement  of  its  orbit. 

7.  This  difference  is  almost  wholly  due  to  a 
movement  of  the  Earth. 

8.  From  the  uniform  distribution  of  fossils,  we 
learn  that  the  Earth's  axis,  till  well  towards  the 
Epoch  of  the  Glaciers,  and  probably  into  that 
period  to  some  extent,  was  almost  perpendicular. 

9.  The  closing  period  of  the  time  of  perpen- 
dicular axis,  the  Tertiary,  was  distinguished  for 
the  completion  of  land  development,  and  biologi- 
cally for  the  appearance  and   predominance   of 
modern  Grasses,  Angiosperms,  and  Palms,  i.  e. 
"  the  tree  yielding  fruit  whose  seed  is  in  itself." 

After  this  followed  the  Glacial  Epoch. 

10.  At  the  earliest  period  after  this  Epoch  of 
which  we  have*  any  knowledge,  the  axis  of  the 
Earth  had  its  present  inclination. 

Hence,  as  this  change  occurred  after  the  Ter- 
tiary, and  before  the  Historic  period,  its  epoch  is 
between  them,  i.  e.  IN  THE  GLACIAL  EPOCH. 


CAUSE   OF   AXIAL   CHANGE.  239 

AS  TO   THE   CAUSE   OF   AXIAL   CHANGE. 

1.  It  was  not  a  cause  outside  of  the   laws 
governing  the  rest  of  the  System. 

2.  It  cannot  be  due  to  Magnetic  forces. 

3.  It  cannot  be  due  to  collision  with  Meteors. 

4.  It  cannot  be  due  to  any  centrifugal  force. 

5.  It  could  have  been  produced  by  the  attrac- 
tion of  the  Sun,  Moon,  and  Planets  upon  polar 
upheavals. 

6.  No  other  force  yet  known  could  affect  the 
Earth's  position. 

AS   TO   THE   REALITY   OF   SUCH   UPHEAVALS. 

1.  Immense  upheavals  are  now  occurring  on 
Saturn  and  on  the  Sun,  as  well  as,  upon  a  smaller 
scale,  upon  the  Earth.* 

2.  We  know  of  no  law  or  circumstance  deter- 
mining their  limits,  and  are  equally  ignorant  of 
their  cause  and  of  bounds  to  its  power.     At  this 
moment  there  is  a  difference  between  the  lowest 

*  Mr.  Horner,  in  his  Address  to  the  British  Association, 
1846,  p.  63,  says  :  "  That  land  in  various  parts  of  the  earth 
has  undergone  movements  of  elevation  and  depression,  and 
that  it  has  been  subject  to  such  oscillations  at  all  times  up 
to  the  present  day,  admits,  I  think,  of  no  doubt."  He  quotes 
Mr.  Darwin  as  saying  that  "  daily  it  is  forced  home  upon 
the  mind  of  the  Geologist,  that  nothing,  not  even  the  wind 
that  blows,  is  so  unstable  as  the  level  of  the  crust  of  this 
earth."  Strong  language,  and  probably  uttered  under  the 
impulse  of  strong  feeling,  yet  sufficiently  exact  to  fully 
sustain  my  position. 


24:0  INCLINATION   OF   EARTH'S   AXIS. 

depression  and  the  highest  elevation  of  about  16 
miles. 

3.  Polar  upheavals  occurred  during  the  Glacial 
Epoch  on  a  scale  surpassing  any  telluric  move- 
ments of  which  we  have  any  knowledge. 

4:.  There  was  at  the  same  time  an  extraordi- 
nary transfer  of  water  from  equatorial  regions  to 
polar,  where  it  was  piled  up  as  ice,  thus  diminish- 
ing the  equatorial  protuberance  and  increasing  the 
polar  upheaval.'3*'  / 

*  Since  the  above  was  in  type,  I  have  seen  the  very  able 
article  of  Messrs.  Newcomb  and  Holden,  in  the  American 
Journal  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  October,  1874,  which  appears 
to  dispose  of  the  existence  of  periodic  variations  of  the  Solar 
diameter.  Those  of  a  temporary  and  irregular  character, 
however,  may  exist,  indeed,  must  exist,  if  the  upheaved 
masses  of  Hydrogen,  or  other  matter,  be  considered  as  part 
of  the  Sun,  since  a  diameter  measured  through  such  an  up- 
heaval would  be  longer  than  one  measured  elsewhere.  Regu- 
lar periodic  changes  of  real  diameter  are  inconceivable,  but 
spasmodic  changes  are  normal  to  the  whole  system,  and 
although  subject  to  law,  yet  it  is  a  law  so  complicated  that 
as  yet  it  has  been  impossible  to  do  more  than  to  record  their 
occurrence. 

One  word  as  to  the  strange  distortions  of  Saturn.  It  is 
suggested  that  these  are  in  some  way  due  to  the  attraction 
of  its  Satellites  ;  but,  if  this  were  so,  they  would  necessarily 
recur  in  a  Cycle,  giving  a  rhythm  to  their  movements  of 
which  there  are  no  indications. 


EPOCH   OF   AXIAL   CHANGE.  241 


ANOTHER  THEORY. 

One  of  the  peculiar  advantages  of  a  phenome- 
nal description  is  that  it  cannot  be  destroyed.  It 
possesses  a  vitality  that  refuses  to  yield  to  friend 
or  foe.  Positive  refutations  equally  with  errone- 
ous explanations,  leave  it  unharmed.  Thus  it  will 
be  with  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  fourth  day's 
work  ;  if  it  represent  actual  occurrences,  its  truth- 
fulness is  in  no  degree  dependent  upon  the  cor- 
rectness of  our  theories.  Hence,  should  the  reader 
be  able  to  show  that  the  explanation  here  given, 
li;i>  no  ground  in  the  facts  of  our  world's  history, 
it  would  be  grossly  illogical  for  him  to  deduce  the 
conclusion  that  the  Narrative  itself  is  in  like  pre- 
dicament. 

I  have  developed  in  the  preceding  "  Inquiry  " 
what  seems  to  me  the  true  exposition  of  the  work 
of  the  fourth  day,  and  have  endeavored  to  coordi- 
nate all  the  physical  facts  bearing  upon  the  subject. 
There  has  also .  occurred  to  me  another  Theory, 
which  I  give  for  what  it  is  worth.  It  accords 
with  the  facts  of  the  world's  history  better  than 
any  explanation  of  which  I  have  read,  and,  if  I  over- 
estimate the  value  and  truthfulness  of  my  solution, 
may  aid  in  obtaining  the  true  one.  It  is  not  sat- 
isfactory to  myself,  because  it  lacks  that  sharp 
literalism  which  seems  to  me  one  of  the  most 
11 


24:2  INCLINATION    OF    EARTH'S  AXIS. 

marked  peculiarities  of  the  Mosaic  Account,  and 
does  not  follow  the  text  into  every  phase  of  ex- 
pression. It  lacks,  too,  that  marvelous  interlinear 
reading,  so  characteristic  of  the  preceding  verses. 
We  may  suppose,  then,  that  the  earlier  Geo- 
logical Ages,  at  least  after  the  Cretaceous,  had 
a  sky  nearly  as  clear  and  a  Sun  as  bright  as 
ours,  and  that  under  its  genial  beams  "  the 
earth  brought  forth  grasses,  herbs,  and  the  tree 
yielding  fruit  whose  seed  is  in  itself"  (i.  e.  an- 
giosperms  and  palms),  as  well  as  the  varied  pre- 
glacial  fauna.  That  towards  the  close  of  the 
Tertiary,  when  such  a  flora  had  become  dominant, 
the  cold  of  the  telluric  glacial  winter  set  in,  and 
that  dense  clouds  hiding  the  Sun,  the  Moon,  and 
the  Stars,  gathered  over  all  the  world,  bringing 
back  almost  primordial  darkness.*  That  during 
this  long  time  of  ice  and  darkness,  one  unchanging 
season  of  almost  endless  winter  prevailed.  At 
last,  from  some  unknown  cause  due  to  the  Divine 
Worker,  warmth  revisited  the  earth,  the  clouds 
cleared  away,  revealing,  as  if  a  new  creation,  the 
greater  and  lesser  lights,  and  "  the  stars  also ; " 
the  monotony  of  the  world-wide  winter  was  fol- 

*  These  clouds  and  darkness  have  not,  as  far  as  I  am 
aware,  any  sufficient  foundation  in  fact,  but  for  aught  I 
know,  they  may  have  occurred/  This  is  as  good  authority 
for  the  assertion  as  belongs  to  many  Scientific  theories  as 
well  as  to  the  greater  number  of  the  explanations  of  the 
account  given  in  Genesis,  which  have  fallen  under  my  ob- 
servation 


EPOCH    OF   AXIAL    CHANGE.  243 

lowed  by  the  pleasing  vicissitude  of  Spring  and 
Summer,  Autumn  and  Winter,  a  joyous  pro- 
cession that  has  ever  since  brought  seed-time  and 
harvest. 

The  fauna  of  water  animals  and  fowls,  which 
were  so  appropriate  to  the  close  of  the  reign  of 
ice  and  cold,  would  harmonize  equally  well  with 
cither  of  the  explanations  which  I  have  given  of 
the  work  of  the  fourth  day. 


COSMOLOGY. 


THE  study  of  the  influence  of  Solar  and  Lunar 
attraction  upon  telluric  upheavals,  leads  to  a 
field  of  inquiry  by  no  means  limited  to  the  planet 
on  which  we  live.  It  may  seem  not  germane  to 
the  subject  which  thus  far  has  occupied  the  reader's 
attention,  but  as  I  have  shown  that  a  successful 
denial  of  the  Mosaic  Narrative  would  annihilate 
the  Nebular  Hypothesis,  and  on  this  conclusion 
have  based  an  argument  for  the  reality  of  a  Reve- 
lation, it  cannot  be  out  of  place  to  present  here 
evidence  which  tends  to  establish  the  truth  of 
that  remarkable  Theory. 

Leaving  out  of  consideration  the  usual  proof 
derived  from  observations  made  with  the  telescope 
and  spectroscope,  I  propose  to  confine  myself  to  an 
attempt  to  show  that  the  present  phenomena  of  the 
Solar  System,  or  others  of  precisely  similar  cha- 
racter, are  the  necessary  results  of  such  a  condition 
as  is  implied  in  the  word  Nebulous.  I  shall  as- 
sume nothing  that  is  not  an  admitted  truth,  or  that 
does  not  find  its  analogue  at  the  present  moment 
in  some  part  of  the  universe.  As  such  may  be 


NEBULAR    HYPOTHESIS.  245 

reckoned  the  universality  and  uniformity  of  gravi- 
tation and  the  laws  of  motion,  while  the  true 
Nebulae  now  to  be  seen  in  various  parts  of  the 
heavens,  present  the  very  condition  which  this 
Theory  demands  for  our  own  Solar  System.  The 
upheavals  which  will  be  required  are  similar  in 
character,  but  proportionately  larger  than  those 
of  whose  existence  on  the  Earth,  the  larger 
planets,  and  the  Sun,  we  have  such  ample 
proof. 

I  shall,  then,  assume  that  the  Solar  System  at 
some  inconceivably  remote  period,  was  a  nebulous 
mass  of  almost  infinite  rarity,  extending  beyond 
the  orbit  of  Neptune,  and  that  it  was  affected  by 
the  present  law  of  gravitation,  and  was  subject  to 
the  laws  of  Motion. 

I  shall  also  assume  the  existence  of  upheavals 
in  this  great  mass,  and  endeavor  to  show  that  in 
these  assumptions  is  a  key  that  so  readily  unlocks 
the  difficulties  of  our  System,  so  readily  and  easily 
accounts  for  phenomena  so  various,  that  it  is 
impossible  to  resist  the  belief  that  in  them  we 
have  the  true  physical  cause  of  the  present  ar- 
rangement of  the  Solar  System  as  well  as  of  the 
smaller  systems  that  centre  about  some  of  the 
planets. 

It  is  evident  that  the  atoms  of  a  homogeneous 
sphere  of  nebulous  matter  under  the  sole  influence 
of  gravity,  frould  move  centreward  in  radial 
lines,  since  the  lateral  attractions  would  neutralize 


24:6  COSMOLOGY. 

each  other,  and  that,  in  reference  to  them,  the 
system  would  be  in  a  state  of  unstable  equili- 
brium. Any  disturbance,  however  small,  giving 
preponderance  to  a  part,  would  result  necessarily 
in  a  gyratory  movement.  As  matter  is  powerless 
to  originate  any  change  of  position,  such  a  dis- 
turbance must  have  come  from  without.  This 
derangement  of  equilibrium  might  result  from  the 
impact  of  some  body,  as  the  plunging  in  of  a  me- 
teor, or  the  attraction  of  another  system.  Any 
explanation,  however,  only  places  us  one  step 
farther  back,  one  nearer  to  the  Source  of  Being 
and  Power,  and  in  the  last  analysis,  reaches  the 
Great  First  Cause.  Sooner  or  later  we  arrive  at 
the  only  explanation  on  which  the  mind  can  rest, 
"  The  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the 
fluid  mass."  * 

In  case,  however,  the  mass  was  not  a  spheroid, 
or  not  homogeneous,  states  as  much  to  be  ac- 
counted for  as  an  external  impulse,  the  conditions 
for  gyratory  movement  existed  in  itself.  Any 
one  of  these  causes  would  eventually  result  not 
only  in  a  motion  of  rotation,  but  what  was  of 
great  importance  in  the  development  of  the  Sys- 

*  Can  it  be  that  here  is  one  more  instance  of  the  deeper, 
more  radical  meaning  of  the  words  of  Genesis,  striking  a 
physical  fact  ?  Certainly  the  thought  of  a  mighty  wind,  a 
"  wind  of  God,"  the  impact  of  the  breath  of  God,  the  Kvev[Mt 
BEOV  rushing  upon  the  dark,  formless  mass,  is  wonderfully  in 
harmony  with  the  needed  disturbance,  and  the  resulting 
waves  which  rose  and  fell  thenceforth  through  the  ages. 


NEBULAE    HYPOTHESIS.  247 

tern,  it  would  also  produce  an  undulatory  move- 
ment or  wave  of  force,  traversing  the  mass  from 
side  to  side,  echoed  back  as  it  were,  and  producing 
surface  waves  the  precursors  and  causal  antecedents 
of  all  the  upheavals  since. 

From  the  laws  of  motion,  I  postulate  the 
increase  of  angular  velocit}7  and  centrifugal  force, 
as  condensation  proceeded ;  the  formation  of  the 
nebulous  mass  into  an  oblate  spheroid;  and  the 
ultimate  avulsion  of  a  ring  of  similar  matter, 
which  revolved  in  the  plane  of  the  Cosmic  equator, 
about  the  Cosmic  centre,  in  the  same  direction 
as  the  parent  mass,  and  which  was,  if  without 
interfering  cause,  truly  circular  and  of  uniform 
section. 

By  Kepler's  law  establishing  the  relation  be- 
tween the  times  and  distances,  it  is  evident,  since 
the  Radii  were  very  large  and  the  distance  be- 
tween the  surface  of  the  helioid  *  and  the  inner 
surface  of  the  ring  was  at  first  infinitesimally 
small  and  increased  very  slowly,  that  their  angu- 
lar velocities  were  for  a  very  long  time  almost  the 
same. 

A  POINT  THEREFORE  ON  THE  RING  OPPOSITE  A 
POINT  ON  THE  HELIOIU  WOULD  REMAIN  SENSIBLY 
OPPOSITE  FOR  A  PERIOD  OF  GREAT  LENGTH. 

*  "  Helioid  "  denotes  that  part  of  the  great  Nebula  within 
a  ring,  or  the  orbit  of  a  planet.  It  is  the  central  portion  and 
contains  in  itself  the  undeveloped  planets  and  the  Sun. 
"  Planetoid  "  bears  the  same  relation  to  a  planet. 


248  COSMOLOGY. 

This  fact  is  highly  important,  since  it  practi- 
cally avoids  all  consideration  of  the  rotation  of  the 
two,  save  so  far  as  by  generating  a  centrifugal 
force  it  held  their  centres  at  a  fixed  distance  apart 
while  leaving  entire  freedom  of  motion  in  other 
directions.  In  connection  with  the  limited  dura- 
tion of  the  upheavals,  it  also  eliminates  that  com- 
pensation which  is  the  marrow  of  La  Grange's 
celebrated  Theorem  in  reference  to  orbital  inclina- 
tions. 

These  upheavals  occurred,  most  probably,  in 
all  forms  and  positions.  Obeying  the  law  of  gravi- 
tation, they  attracted  other  bodies,  precisely  as  if 
the  central  body  was  not  in  existence.  Accord- 
ing to  this  law,  the  influence  of  a  homogeneous* 
sphere  on  a  body  exterior  to  it,  is  not  affected  by 
any  change  in  the  diameter  of  either,  providing 
the  masses  and  the  distance  between  their  centres 
remain  constant.  In  other  words,  if  the  Sun  re- 
mained a  homogeneous  sphere,  its  attraction  upon 
Neptune,  for  instance,  would  be  precisely  the  same 
as  now,  although  it  were  so  rarefied  as  to  reach 
within  a  foot  of  the  latter' s  surface. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  mass  lying  upon  the  sur- 
face of  the  sphere  will  exert  its  influence  precisely 
as  if  the  latter  was  not  in  existence,  and  its  attrac- 
tion will  vary,  very  nearly,  in  the  inverse  ratio  of 
the  square  of  the  distance  of  the  attracted  body 
from  the  surface  of  the  sphere.  Consequently  its 
*  Or,  if  homogeneous  at  equal  depths 


NEBULAR    HYPOTHESIS.  24:9 

effect  upon  a  given  mass  may  equal  or  exceed  that 
of  the  sphere  itself. 

Hence  it  follows,  if  the  distance  between  their 
centres  be  constant,  that  the  attraction  of  the 
helioid  for  a  planet  will  remain  constant  forever, 
no  matter  how  far  their  surfaces  may  separate, 
while  the  attraction  of  a  mass  lying  upon  the  sur- 
of  the  central  body,  and  moving  with  it,  will 
be  a  variable  quantity  having  its  maximum  as 
nearly  as  possible  at  the  moment  of  avulsion,  and 
diminishing  as  that  body  contracts. 

Since  no  internal  force  can  change  the  absolute 
position  of  the  centre  of  gravity  of  a  system 
(Principia),  it  follows  that  an  elevation  so  caused 
at  any  point,  will  always  be  accompanied  by  an 
equivalent  movement  in  the  opposite  direction, 
and  un  the  other  side  of  the  centre  of  'gravity. 
This  may  manifest  itself,  either  in  another  up- 
heaval on  the  opposite  surface,  or  it  may  take  the 
form  of  a  more  or  less  general  movement  of  the 
rest  of  the  mass  in  a  direction  opposite  to  the  first, 
but  to  a  relatively  smaller  distance.  But  in  the 
consideration  of  masses  of  such  inconceivable  size, 
the  distance  from  one  side  of  the  helioid  to  the 
other  is  so  great  that  the  effect  of  the  opposite 
upheaval  may  for  the  most  part  be  entirely 
neglected. 

In  these  elementary  principles  are  found  the 
conditions  necessary  for  the  formation  of  a  system 
with  the  peculiarities  of  our  own.  They  contain 
11* 


250  COSMOLOGY. 

also  such  elements  of  variation  as  to  account  for 
other  orders  and  arrangements  such  as  we  may 
conceive  to  exist  about  other  Suns,  but  of  which 
we  can  have  no  knowledge  other  than  the  possi- 
bility of  their  existence. 

I  have  spoken  of  our  Cosmos  as  normally  a 
regular  body,  a  real  spheroid,  if  not  a  sphere,  an 
assumption  made  to  avoid  complications  in  the 
reasoning.  Although  it  could  not  have  been  as 
irregular  as  some  nebulae  of  which  we  have  know- 
ledge, or  it  would  have  developed  into  a  double  or 
triple  Sun-System,  yet  it  is  inconceivable  that  it 
was  a  really  regular  body.  Whatever  was  its  true 
form,  it  may,  however,  without  error,  be  consid- 
ered at  all  times  a  true  sphere  with  protuberances 
or  irregularities  of  various  forms  and  sizes.  These, 
from  the  nature  of  an  elastic,  mobile  body,  must 
have  been  ever-varying,  and  hence  would  give  the 
conditions  required,  i.  e.  undulations  as  it  were, 
rising  at  one  time  far  above  the  normal  surface, 
and  then  sinking  back  again  to,  or  even  below, 
their  former  place. 

The  following  results  flow  from  such  a  nebu- 
lous body  of  sufficient  size,  under  the  one  condi- 
tion of  local,  temporary  *  upheavals,  and  would  be 

*  Local  has  reference  to  the  fact  that  the  upheaval, 
although  millions  of  miles,  perhaps,  in  extent,  covered  but 
a  small  fraction  of  the  central  body. 

Temporary  as  Cosmology  counts  time,  a  trifle  of  a  thou- 
sand years  or  centuries,  some  fragment  of  eternity. 


NEBULAR   HYPOTHESIS.  251 

equally  true  of  all  conceivable  one-Sun  Systems. 
They  may  be  embodied  in  seven  general  proposi- 
tions. 

Prop.  1.  There  will  be  an  evolution  of  a 
series  of  planets.* 

Prop.  2.  The  orbital  motion  of  the  planets 
and  the  axial  revolution  of  the  central  body  will 
normally  be  in  the  same  direction. 

Prop.  3.  The  axial  revolutions  of  att  the  pla- 
nets will  normally  be  in  the  same  direction  as  the 
orbital. 

Prop.  4.  The  planets  will  have  elliptic  orbits 
of  unequal  eccentricity. 

Prop.  5.  The  planes  of  these  orbits  will  be 
inclined  at  various  angles. 

Prop.  6.  The  planes  of  their  equators  will  be 
inclined  to  their  orbits  at  any  angle  from  0°  to 
180°.  N.  B.  An  inclination  exceeding  90°  gives 
the  retrograde  motions  of  the  Satellites  of  Uranus 
and  Neptune. 

Prop.  7.  Great  differences  will  be  possible 
between  the  direction  of  the  orbital  motion  of 
satellites  and  that  of  their  primaries. 

Although  these  conditions  are  actually  found 
in  our  system,  yet  they  might  have  been  deduced 
a  priori,  by  one  who  had  no  knowledge  of  their 

*  The  masses  of  the  planets  and  the  planetary  distances, 
although  results  of  the  nebulous  condition,  do  not  come 
within  the  present  discussion,  being  dependent  upon  princi- 
ples not  now  under  consideration. 


252  COSMOLOGY. 

actual   occurrence,  as  I  shall  now  endeavor  to 
show. 

I  shall  assume,  without  argument,  that  a  spheri- 
cal gaseous  mass,  revolving  as  we  have  supposed, 
and  shrinking  in  bulk,  would  generate  an  oblate 
spheroid,  and  that  then,  as  the  centrifugal  force 
became  equal  to  the  centripetal,  a  separation,  or 
avulsion,  of  a  ring  of  similar  matter  would  occur 
in  the  equatorial  protuberant  belt ;  that  as  this 
belt  was  truly  circular,  so  would  be  the  ring ; 
and,  as  our  supposed  spheroid  was  homogeneous 
at  equal  depths,  every  section  of  the  ring  made  by 
a  plane  passing  through  the  cosmic  centre,  and 
perpendicular  to  its  equator,  would  be  equal  to 
every  other  section  similarly  formed  ;  and,  as  there 
was  no  cause  for  change;  the  ring  must  continue 
to  move  in  the  same  direction  as  the  parent  mass. 

PROPOSITIONS  1  AND  2. 

Commencing,  then,  at  the  exterior  of  our  Sys- 
tem, we  will  suppose  the  first  cosmic  ring  just  left 
behind  by  the  contraction  of  the  helioid,  and  that, 
not  long  after,  an  upheaval  occurred  on  its  equa- 
torial portion. 

This  upheaval,  being  exterior  to  the  spheroid, 
would  act  upon  the  ring  as  if  the  latter  was  not  in 
existence,  and,  being  very  near  to  one  side  of  it, 
would  greatly  disturb  its  equilibrium,  causing  an 
acceleration  of  the  velocity  of  the  portion  behind 


NEBULAR    HYPOTHESIS.  253 

it,  and  a  retardation  of  that  in  advance.*  This 
would  cause,  in  the  ring,  an  accumulation  or 
nucleous,  which,  once  formed,  would  continue  to 
draw  to  itself  the  remainder,  until  all  was  col- 
lected into  one  mass.  This  mass  would  necessarily 
continue  to  revolve  about  the  Cosmic  centre  in  the 
same  direction  as  the  ring,  and  hence  as  the  helioid 
itself.  This  h'rst  body,  in  our  system,  would  be 
the  embryo  planet  which  we  now  call  Neptune. 
A  repetition  of  this  process  would  produce  planet 
after  planet,  until  the  helioid  had  shrunk  to  a 
body  too  small,  or  too  solid,  to  generate  any 
more,  and,  for  lack  of  reason  to  the  contrary,  each 
would  revolve  in  the  same  direction  as  the  central 
mass.  Q.  E.  D. 

Here  I  may  remark  that  two  or  more  such  up- 
heavals might  occur  in  the  time  of  one  ring,  at  a 
great  distance  apart,  and  that  this  would  result  in 
the  formation  of  two  or  more  planets,  at  equal  dis- 
tances from  the  centre,  a  condition  of  which  some 
of  the  Asteroids  furnish  an  illustration.  The  rela- 
tive size  of  such  twin  planets  would  depend  upon 
the  distance  apart  of  the  upheavals,  as  well  as  the 
length  of  time  one  appeared  before  the  other. 

PROPOSITION  3. 

From  this  same  equatorial  upheaval  other  im- 
portant results  flow. 

*  Fig.  4  illustrates  this ;  q.  v. 


254  COSMOLOGY. 

FIGURE  4. 


A  is  the  axis.  M  the  upheaved  mass.  The  shorter  arrows 
denote  decreased  velocity ;  the  longer  ones,  increased  velocity. 
N  is  the  nucleus  of  a  planet. 

Fig.  4  represents  an  equatorial  section  of  the 
Cosmos,  although  a  very  distorted  one.  We  here 
have  the  conditions  just  described.  Not  only 
would  the  atoms  on  one  side  approach  the  nucleus 
N  with  an  increased  velocity,  but*  this  would  gene- 
rate an  increase  of  centrifugal  force,  causing  them 
to  recede  somewhat  from  the  Cosmic  centre,  while 
the  atoms  in  advance  would,  for  the  opposite  rea- 
son, have  less  centrifugal  force,  and  be  drawn 
nearer  the  centre.  Omitting  all  consideration  of 
the  absolute  motion,  and  looking  only  at  the  rela- 


NEBULAR    HYPOTHESIS.  255 

tive,  there  will  be,  in  effect,  two  streams  of  aebu- 
lous  matter  moving  in  opposite  directions  towards 
the  nucleal  point,  the  medial  line  of  the  one  fall- 
ing nearer  the  centre  of  the  system  than  that  of 
the  other,  thus  generating  an  axial  revolution  in 
the  same  direction  as  the  orbital.  As  precisely 
the  same  action  may  be  supposed  to  occur  in  case 
of  all  the  planets,  the  same  result  must  follow, 
thus  establishing  the  truth  of  the  third  Propo- 
sition. 

PROPOSITION  4. 

The  body  opposite  M  as  yet  possesses  none  of 
the  planetary  characteristics,  save  axial  and  orbital 
movements,  the  latter  in  a  path  truly  circular — 
so  far,  at  least,  as  any  cause  to  tlje  contrary  has 
been  shown.  This  brings  us  to  the  fourth  Propo- 
sition. 

By  the  laws  of  motion,  the  angular  velocity  of 
the  helioid  exceeded  somewhat  (not  much  at  first) 
that  of  the  ring,  or  its  subsequent  planet.  Conse- 
quently, the  mass  M  kept  in  advance  of  the  embryo 
planet,  and  continued  to  accelerate  the  latter's  rate 
of  motion,  its  influence  at  the  same  time  gradually 
diminishing  until  the  distance  between  them  be- 
came 180°,  when  its  influence  became  zero,  and 
then  negative  for  the  remaining  180°.  A  pre- 
cisely similar  effect  would  have  been  produced 
had  the  upheaval  continued  for  a  part  of  a  revo- 
lution, or  had  it  been  followed  at  a  sufficient 
interval  by  one  behind  the  planet.  The  effect  of 


256  COSMOLOGY. 

such  acceleration  and  retardation  was  necessarily 
that  variation  of  velocity  that  can  only  exist  in  an 
elliptic  orbit.* 

Hence,  in  the  disturbing  force  of  the  attraction 
of  such  an  upheaval,  we  find  an  influence  that 
would  necessarily  generate  elliptic  orbits,  and  as 
the  upheavals  could  scarcely  be  equal  in  size,  posi- 
tion, or  duration,  either  actually  or  relatively-,  there 
would  arise  a  great  variety  in  the  eccentricities 
of  these  orbits.  Therefore,  on  a  priori  grounds, 
we  should  expect  the  present  variety  in  the  forms 
of  the  orbits  of  our  System,  in  harmony  with  the 
Proposition. 

As  the  same  result  might  flow  from  a  succes- 
sion of  smaller  upheavals,  and  as  it  is  not  reasona- 
ble to  suppose  any  regular  order  in  them,  we  may 
conclude  that  some  aided  the  movement,  while 
others  retarded  it,  and  hence  follows  the  curious 
result  that  the  mean  eccentricity  of  the  same 
planet's  orbit  may  have  been,  at  some  of  these 
early  times,  greater,  and  at  others,  less,  than  at 
present. 

PROPOSITION  5. 

For  the  sake  of  simplicity,  I  have  supposed 
the  orbital  and  axial  motions,  as  well  as  the  ellipti- 
cities  of  the  orbits,  attained  while  they  were  yet 

*  I  do  not  speak  of  a  parabola  or  hyperbola,  for  these 
forces  could  not  generate  such  a  curve,  since  no  body  can, 
by  its  own  attraction  alone,  impart  to  another  a  force  suffi- 
cient to  send  it  beyond  its  reach. 


NEBULAR   HYPOTHESIS.  257 

in  the  plane  of  the  great  equator.  Returning,  as 
before,  to  the  exterior  planet  just  after  its  segre- 
gation and  collection  into  a  spheroid,  we  may 
imagine  another  upheaval  occurring  on  thehelioid, 
which,  as  yet,  nearly  filled  the  space  within  the 
planet's  orbit,  at  some  considerable  distance  from 
the  equator,  as  40°  or  50°,  but,  if  I  may  use  such 
:m  expression,  in  the  plane  of  the  same  meridian 
as  the  planet.  It  is  evident  that  the  attraction  of 
this  mass  will  neither  increase  nor  diminish  the 
planet's  orbital  motion,  and  so  far  will  be  without 
effect.  It  will,  however,  to  a  degree  depending 
upon  its  mass,  distance,  and  duration,  and  upon 
the  mass  of  the  planet,  lift  the  latter  above  its 
normal  position.  But  as  the  centre  of  gravity  of 
a  system  of  bodies  cannot  be  made  to  change  its 
place  by  the  action  of  forces  in  the  system,  and  as 
this  centre  of  gravity  is  the  point  about  which  the 
planet  revolves,  the  orbit  will  of  necessity  become 
inclined. 

If  the  upheaval  had  been  permanent,  it  would 
eventually  counterbalance  its  own  influence,  leav- 
ing the  mean  inclination  of  the  orbit  unaffected, 
but  its  temporary  character,  so  to  speak  of  cosmic 
durations,  paradoxical  as  it  may  appear,  gives  per- 
manency to  its  effects.  This,  for  the  very  simple 
reason  that  before  the  time  and  position  come 
around  for  it  to  act  in  an  opposite  sense,  or  to  lift 
the  other  end  of  the  orbit,  it  will  have  sunk  to  the 
general  level. 


258  COSMOLOGY. 

As  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  the  subsequent 
upheavals,  in  reference  to  the  planets  interior  to 
Neptune,  were  all  of  the  same  size,  duration,  dis- 
tance and  angular  direction,  we  are  certain,  a 
priori,  of  a  corresponding  variety  in  their  orbital 
inclinations. 

Hefice,  given  a  Nebulous  mass  and  local  up- 
heavals above  or  below  the  equator,  the  orbital 
inclinations  follow  of  necessity,  with  all  their 
variety  of  degree,  and  thus  establish  the  truthful- 
ness of  the  fifth  Proposition. 

THE    AXIAL    INCLINATION. 

Although  I  have  not  yet  exhausted  the  effects 
produced  by  an  upheaval  of  a  portion  of  the  cen- 
tral body,  it  is  now  necessary  to  consider  the  be- 
havior of  the  inchoate  planet. 

As  has  already  been  said,  an  axial  rotation  of 
the  inchoate  planet,  in  the  normal  direction,  was 
generated,  and  I  now  add  that  this  rotation  was 
made  yet  more  rapid  by  the  condensation  of  the 
matter  forming  the  nebuloid. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  give  the  equation 
of  axial  revolution,  but  so  many  elements  which 
must  always  remain  indeterminate,  enter  into  the 
calculation,  that  the  true  equation*  appears  impos- 
sible to  be  obtained.  We  cannot  tell  how  much  of 

*  The  true  equation  should  give  the  time  of  rotation  at 
any  period  of  the  planet's  existence,  either  when  it  possessed 
the  intense  heat  of  some  former  epoch,  or  when  it  shall 
have  cooled  to  the  temperature  of  surrounding  space. 


NEBULAR    HYPOTHESIS. 

the  primeval  force  was  radiated  as  heat  into  space, 
or  disappeared  as  chemical  force,  or  in  other  ways. 
For  a  like  reason,  it  probably  will  always  be 
impossible  to  find  the  formulae  representing  the 
inclinations  and  eccentricities  in  terms  of  those 
movements  from  which  they  have  been  derived, 
precisely  as  it  is  impossible  to  give  the  formula 
for  the  shape  of  a  pebble  on  the  sea  shore.  We 
can  show  how  its  form  was  attained  by  the  action 
of  the  waves  dashing  it  against  its  fellows,  and 
that  such  action  would  necessarily  result  in  a 
greater  or  less  approach  to  the  form  of  a  sphere. 
We  can  also,  knowing  its  lithic  character,  and  the 
direction  of  the  planes  of  cleavage,  determine,  a 
priori,  the  position  of  its  three  axes,  but  there  we 
must  stop.  The  infinite  number  of  modes  of  ap- 
plying tlu*  l»lu\vs,  the  varying  degree  of  hardness 
in  the  pebble  itself,  or  in  those  about  it,  the 
solvent  power  of  the  water,  etc.,  introduce  such  a 
flood  of  indeterminate  quantities,  that  the  finite 
mind  is  baffled.  The  Cosmic  mass,  the  rings  and 
the  planets,  were  subject  to  an  infinite  variety  of 
influences,  from  the  ever-varying  shape,  size,  posi- 
tion, and  duration  of  these  upheaved  masses.  We 
can  qualitatively  show  their  results,  but  can  never 
throw  their  influences  into  the  form  of  equations. 

PROPOSITION  6. 

The  normal  position  of  the  axis  of  the  plane- 
tary nebuloid  was  perpendicular  to  its  orbit,  and, 


260  COSMOLOGY. 

if  it  had  at  that  time  the  form  of  a  true  sphere,  no 
effect  upon  the  direction  of  its  axis  could  have 
been  produced,  either  by  the  central  sphere  itself, 
or  by  any  upheaval  upon  its  own  surface.  What- 
ever change  of  position  the  planet  or  its  orbit 
might  undergo,  the  axis  of  the  former  would  re- 
main parallel  to  itself. 

I  now  propose  to  consider  the  form  of  the 
nascent  planet. 


FIGURE  5. 

Fig.  5  represents  a  portion  of  the  ring  gather- 
ing about  a  planetoid,  the  larger  arrow,  as  in 
Fig.  4,  denoting  the  portion  of  the  ring  whose 
speed  has  been  increased,  and  the  smaller,  that 
which  moves  more  slowly.  The  effect  of  such  a 
condition  was  to  produce  a  lateral  pressure  upon 
the  mass  as  it  revolved  on  its  axis,  resulting  in  its 
elongation  in  the  direction  of  its  poles,  exactly  as 
a  bar  of  hot  iron  rotating  on  its  longer  axis  while 
receiving  the  blows  of  a  hammer,  is  elongated. 
This  prolateness  must  have  continued  during  the 
aggregation  of  the  planetoid,  and  afterwards,  until 


NEBULAR    HYPOTHESIS.  261 

the   latter's   own  "centrifugal  force   caused  it  to 
change  to  an  oblate  spheroid. 

From  this  elongation,  highly  important  results 
followed,  viz.  the  inclinations  of  the  axes  of  the 
members  of  our  System. 


FIGURE  6. 

Let  Fig.  6  represent  the  Solar  System  during 
the  aggregation  of  Neptune,  while  the  latter  was 
yet  prolate,  and  while  its  axis  was  yet  perpendicu- 
lar to  the  Cosmic  equator. 

It  is  evident  that  while  the  helioid  remains  a 
true  spheroid,  its  attraction  can  produce  no  effect 
upon  the  position  of  the  planet's  axis.  But  if  a 
mass,  M,  be  upheaved,  as  in  the  cut,  the  attraction 
of  M  on  the  nearest  hemisphere  will  cause  the 


262  COSMOLOGY. 

body  to  incline  towards  it,  and  to  assume  a  posi- 
tion rudely  shown  by  the  dotted  line. 

It  is  furthermore  evident  that  as  soon  as  one 
hemisphere  begins  to  approach  the  helioid,  it  will, 
from  its  nearness,  be  more  strongly  attracted  than 
the  other,  and  consequently  that  the  great  central 
body  will  aid  and  continue  the  effect  of  M.  Conse- 
quently, the  axis  will  lean  more  and  more  from 
the  perpendicular  towards  the  plane  of  its  orbit, 
which  it  will  reach  in  due  time,  unless  prevented 
by  some  other  force,  which  might,  under  favora- 
ble circumstances,  come  from  an  upheaval  below 
the  helioid's  equator,  but  more  frequently  from 
the  stability  engendered  by  the  development  of  a 
sufficient  oblateness  in  the  planet.  It  is  also  evi- 
dent that  these  counteracting  influences  might 
come  sooner  in  case  of  one  planet  than  in  another, 
giving  rise  to  a  corresponding  variety  of  effects. 
Another  source  of  variation  is  found  in  the  fact 
that  a  large  upheaval  on  the  central  body  would 
produce  a  greater  inclination  of  the  axis  of  the 
planet  than  a  smaller  one,  and  again,  that  the  ef- 
fect upon  a  large  planet,  other  things  being  equal, 
would  be  less  than  upon  a  small  one.  Hence,  we 
should  expect  the  axis  of  Jupiter  to  be  less  inclined 
than  those  of  the  other  planets.  Yet,  since  the 
the  size,  distance,  and  angular  position,  as  well  as 
duration  of  those  upheavals,  were  in  the  highest 
degree  variable,  it  is  as  certain  as  the  doctrine  of 
Chances  can  make  it  that  there  would  be  de- 


NEBULAE   HYPOTHESIS.  263 

veloped  in  any  system,  under  such  influences  as 
these,  all  the  variety  of  axial  or  equatorial  inclina- 
tion that  now  exists  ;  thus  establishing  the  truth 
of  the  sixth  Proposition.* 

It  is  easy  enough  to  see,  from  this,  how  readily 
it  would  happen  that  Jupiter's  axis  should  be 
almost  perpendicular,  while  that  of  Venus  is  so 
very  much,  inclined,  and  that  this  is  easily  con- 
sistent with  their  different  degrees  of  orbital 
eccentricity. 

THE  RETROGRADE  MOTIONS  OF  THE  SATELLITES 
OF  URANUS  AND  NEPTUNE. 

The  Retrograde  Motions  of  the  Satellites  of 
Uranus  and  Neptune  have  long  been  the  bete  noir 
of  astronomers,  obstinately  refusing  to  take  a  place 
in  any  theory.  Yet  I  venture  to  affirm  that  no 
planetary  phenomenon  is  more  easily  explained 
than  these,  upon  the  principles  which  are  under 
consideration. 

Either  of  these  planets,  when  passing  from  the 
state  of  being  a  ring,  must,  as  already  shown, 
have  been  at  first  a  prolate  spheroid.  Its  then 
condition,  and  the  effect  of  a  cosmic  upheaval,  are 
well  indicated  in  Fig.  6.  If  this  upheaval  had 
come  and  gone,  and  the  corresponding  obliquity 

*  The  readei;  will  constantly  bear  in  mind  the  almost 
equal  angular  motion  of  the  planet,  and  the  upheaval  affect- 
ing it,  an  equality,  as  I  have  said,  which  arises  from  the 
small  difference  in  the  length  of  their  immense  radii.  This 
is  a  condition  of  the  highest  importance. 


264  COSMOLOGY. 

of  its  axis  had  occurred,  before  the  embryo  planet 
had  received  all  the  ring-matter,  it  would  retain 
its  prolateness,  and  be  drawn,  by  the  attraction  of 
the  great  central  body,  into  the  plane  of  its  orbit. 
We  need  only  suppose  that  another  undulation 
then  occurred  below  the  equator.  Such  a  mass 
would  draw  the  nearest  pole  still  further  from  its 
normal  position.  If  this  movement  carried  the 
pole  of  Uranus  10°  below  the  plane  of  its  orbit, 
and  that  of  Neptune  60°  (?),  there  would  be  the 
present  reversed  position  of  these  planets.  To 
complete  the  present  arrangement  we  need  only 
suppose,  the  aggregation  of  ring-matter  having 
been  completed,  the  centrifugal  force  no  longer 
repressed  by  lateral  pressure,  the  nebulous  mass 
allowed  to  obey  it  freely,  together  with  an  interval 
of  comparative  Cosmic  quiescence,  and  there  will 
be  given  all  the  needed  conditions  for  the  devel- 
opment of  their  systems  of  satellites,  with  their 
retrograde  motions,  a  result  that  further  confirms 
the  truth  of  the  sixth  Proposition. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark  that  the  suc- 
cession of  upheavals  would  not,  in  reality^  be  so 
distinct  as  I  have  indicated.  One  upheaval,  pro- 
perly placed,  might  produce  nearly  all  these  ef- 
fects at  once.  It  will  be  easy  for  the  reader  to 
discover  how  this  could  be. 

PROPOSITION  7. 
The  Rings,  and  nearly  all  the  Satellites,  re- 


NEBULAR    HYPOTHESIS.  265 

volve  around  the  primaries  almost  in  the  planes 
of  their  equators.  But  our  own  Moon,  and  Sa- 
turn's outermost,  cross  these  planes  at  compara- 
tively large  angles,  the  one  making  an  angle  of 
about  18°,  and  the  other  of  nearly  14°. 

Although  these  anomalies  have  attracted  so 
much  less  attention  than  the  retrograde  motions 
of  the  Satellites  of  Uranus  and  Neptune,  they 
appear  equally  extraordinary.  It  certainly  is  re- 
markaliK'  that  the  rings  of  Saturn,  and  the  large 
number  of  seven  Satellites,  scarcely  vary  from  one 
plane,  while  the  eighth  abruptly  takes  a  course  of 
its  own. 

Our  Theory  does  not  fail  here,  but  shows  even 
this  to  be  a  development  of  law,  and  one  of  the 
echoes  of  that  first  impulse  on  the  inert  Cosmic 
mass. 

We  will  suppose  the  Saturnian  planetoid  in- 
clined something  more  than  28°,  in  the  manner 
already  shown,  PROP.  6,  and  as  illustrated  by  Fig. 
6 ;  that,  while  in  this  position,  the  planetoid, 
by  virtue  of  its  axial  rotation,  became  oblate, 
and  at  length  separated  from  its  equatorial  belt, 
which,  as  shown  in  case  of  the  larger  bodies,  was 
gathered  into  a  sphere,  the  embryo  moon.  This 
must  have  revolved,  at  first,  in  the  equatorial 
plane  of  the  future  planet,  the  system  at  that  time 
being  represented  rudely  by  the  accompanying 
diagram. 

12 


266  COSMOLOGY. 


FIGURE  7. 

AA  is  the  plane  of  the  equator  of  the  helioid,  PP  being 
its  axis.  S  is  the  future  planet  Saturn,  at  that  time  extend- 
ing far  beyond  the  present  orbit  of  its  seventh  Satellite. 
MM',  the  plane  of  the  planetoid's  equator,  and  also  of  the 
orbit  of  the  oldest  Satellite. 

Suppose  an  upheaval  to  occur  at  O,  on  the 
larger  body.  It  is  evident,  first,  that  the  helioid 
itself,  according  to  La  Grange's  Theorem,  will  not 
affect  the  mean  inclination  of  MM'.  Second,  that 
the  upheaved  mass  O  will  draw  M  *  nearer  to 
AA,  but  when  the  Satellite  has  passed  around  to  M', 
i.  e.  after  a  semi-revolution,  it  will  be  drawn  away 

*  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  La  Grange's  Theorem 
owes  its  existence  to  the  invariable  character  of  the  attrac- 
tive influences  affecting  the  mass,  but  has  no  applicability 
to  forces  of  a  temporary  nature.  If  O,  Fig.  7,  had  been  sim- 
ply a  belt,  or  even  a  permanent  upheaval,  eventually  its 
influence  on  the  position  of  M  would  be  counterbalanced, 
and  the  mean  inclination  of  the  latter  would  remain  un- 
changed. But  the  brief  duration  of  O  renders  compensation 
impossible. 


NEBULAR    HYPOTHESIS.  267 

from  AA.  But  as  the  distance  from  O  to  M  is 
very  much  less  than  from  O  to  M',  the  effect  at  M 
\vill  be  much  greater,  and  will  result  in  drawing 
the  Satellite's  orbit  nearer  to  that  of  the  planet. 

Since  the  helioid  at  this  epoch  extended  nearly 
to  the  line  of  equal  attraction  between  the  planet 
and  it.-rlf,  their  rate  of  angular  motion  could 
have  differed  very  little,  and  consequently  the 
mass  O  remained  near  enough  to  the  planet  to 
c.\rrt  an  influence  on  the  Satellite  for  a  longtime, 
indeed,  during  many  hundred  of  its  revolutions. 
Ilo\v  IOML:  a  period  would  be  required  to  produce 
the  required  effect,  wTould  depend  upon  the  size 
and  distance  of  O,  and  as  these  are  both  unknown, 
any  quantitative  answer  is  impossible.  From  the 
great  size  of  Saturn's  orbit,  the  influence  of  such 
an  upheaval  would  not  be  very  great  in  three- 
fourths  of  its  Synodic  revolution,*  leaving  one- 
fourth  only  as  effective,  or  a  period  of  about 
300  years,  equal  to  1350  sideral  revolutions  of  the 
Satellite,  and  ample  time  for  a  moderate  upheaval 
to  raise  its  orbit  14°  from  the  planet's  equator, 
as  will  be  seen  when  we  recollect  that  the  attrac- 
tion of  the  planet  is  sufficient  to  make  it  describe 
a  similar  arc  in  a  little  more  than  one  forty-thou- 
sandth part  of  the  same  time.  If,  by  the  time 
the  Satellite's  orbit  had  been  thus  bent  14°  from 

*  A  Synodic  revolution  here  would  mean  the  time  needed 
for  the  mass  O,  and  the  two  centres  S  and  A  to  come  again 
into  a  right  line.  I  assume  O  to  be  at  the  point  where  the 
attraction  is  equal  between  S  and  A. 


268  COSMOLOGY. 

its  normal  position,  the  upheaval  had  subsided,  it 
would  ever  remain  at  that  angle,  since  it  would 
then  be  subject  to  La  Grange's  Theorem,  and  free 
from  all  interference. 

In  the  meantime,  what  has  been  the  effect 
upon  the  oblate  planetoid  ?  Undoubtedly,  the 
protuberant  equatorial  belt  was  affected  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  mariner,  but  in  an  infinitely  less 
degree.  For,  the  diameter  of  the  Satellite's  orbit 
being  so  much  greater  than  that  of  the  planetoid, 
the  difference  in  the  lifting  power  of  the  upheaval 
would  be  much  less  in  case  of  the  latter,  and  be- 
sides this,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Satel- 
lite is  a  mere  bagatelle  compared  with  the  immense 
size  of  its  primary. 

If,  now,  the  helioid  continued  to  contract,  and 
no  more  undulations  (or  upheavals)  Occurred  upon 
it  large  enough,  or  near  enough,  to  disturb  the 
planet  in  its  process  of  cooling  and  shrinking, 
there  would  be  the  conditions  needed  for  the  quiet 
evolution  of  Saturn's  entire  System. 

In  that  case,  the  other  members  of  the  Saturn- 
ian  family  would  be  duly  formed,  and,  unless 
disturbed  by  some  similar  action  in  the  planetoid, 
would  all  be  produced  revolving  around  the 
parent  mass  in  the  plane  of  its  equator.  But 
such  disturbance  would  be  impossible,  since  no 
such  great  upheavals  could  occur  as  upon  the 
helioid,  nor  could  those  that  did  occur  produce 
relatively  equal  effects,  because  the  radii  of  the 


NEBULAR    HYPOTHESIS.  269 

Saturnian  System  being  so  much  shorter,  there 
could  not  be  that  approximate  equality  in  the  time 
of  revolution  that  was  needed  to  permit  an  up- 
heaval to  produce  its  full  effect.  For,  if  it  con- 
t in ued  too  long,  it  would,  as  I  have  shown,  act  in 
a  contrary  sense,  the  permanency  of  the  work 
being  dependent  upon  the  temporariness  of  the 
upheaval.  Hence,  although  there  may  have  been 
upheavals  upon  the  planetoid,  their  results  were 
Hii.-ill,  as  is  shown  by  the  smallness  of  the  inclina- 
tion of  the  orbits  of  the  Satellites  and  Rings,  to  the 
planet's  equator. 

The  inclination  of  the  Moon's  orbit  to  the 
equator  of  the  Earth  is  the  other  of  these  anoma- 
lies. It  has  already  been  so  far  discussed  as  to 
show  that  upheavals  upon  the  solidified  earth 
could  not  have  produced  it ;  nor  even  when  nebu- 
lous, could  they  have  affected  it  much. 

It  may  justly  be  asked,  if  upheavals  upon  the 
great  central  body  were  capable  of  elevating  or 
depressing  the  planetary  orbits,  why  those  upon 
the  planets  should  not  also  affect  the  orbits  of 
their  Satellites  ? 

There  are  two  reasons  that  occur  to  me  why 
the  effects  of  the  planetary  upheavals,  although 
the  same  in  kind  should  be  less  in  degree. 

First,  the  lower  temperature  of  these  smaller 
systems  would  probably  give  less  energy  to  the 
upheaving  power,  and  therefore,  the  undulations 
would  be  less  in  proportion.  The  second,  and  the 


270  COSMOLOGY. 

more  important  reason,  is  that  based  upon  the 
greater  differences  between  the  angular  velocities 
of  the  Satellites  and  their  primaries.  On  this  ac- 
count, the  element  of  compensation  which  was 
eliminated  from  the  primaries,  as  has  been  shown, 
would  here  reappear.  For,  suppose,  in  case  of  the 
Earth,  an  upheaval  occurred,  e.  g.  in  lat.  45°,  on 
the  line  connecting  the  Moon's  and  the  Earth's 
centre,  and  that  the  Earth  at  that  time  extended 
to  the  point  of  equal  attraction  between  the  two, 
and  that  it  revolved  as  slowly  as  a  Satellite  would 
at  that  distance,  which  would  be  slower  than  its 
actual  speed,  yet,  even  in  that  case,  the  upheaval 
would  gain  so  rapidly  as  soon  to  be  placed  in  a 
similar  position  upon  the  opposite  side,  and  there 
undo  its  previous  work.  Still,  the  upheaval  would 
at  some  time  disappear,  and  as  that  could  hardly 
happen  just  at  the  point  to  counterbalance  all  its 
effect,  some  moderate  residuum  of  change  would 
be  left,  a  condition  which  finds  its  counterpart  in 
the  present  small  inclinations  of  the  orbits  of 
nearly  all  the  Satellites. 

It  remains  to  consider  the  effect  of  an  equa- 
torial upheaval  occurring  on  the  surface  of  the 
helioid,  precisely  as  in  the  case  of  Saturn.  Was 
the  lunar-telluric  mass  inclined  23 £°  and  more,  and 
then  was  the  moon  brought  back  to  5°  ?  If  such 
a  thing  was  done  in  case  of  one  of  Saturn's  moons, 
could  it  be  done  in  case  of  our  Earth's  ?  I  think 
not,  for  there  are  certain  important  points  of  dif- 
ference. 


NEBULAR    IIYI'oTIIKSIS.  271 

The  primary  ring  had  been  gathered  into  the 
lunar-telluric  spheroid,  a  secondary  ring  cast  off, 
and  that  gathered  also  into  a  spheroidal  body,  a 
great  length  of  time,  therefore,  must  have  elapsed 
MM  <-e  the  avulsion  of  the  first,  which  would  give 
the  helioid  time  to  condense  to  a  considerable 
degree,  and  allow  a  space  between  its  surface  and 
the  Moon  of,  say  half  the  distance  allowed  for 
the  same  process  in  case  of  Saturn,  or  7,000,000 
miles.  By  Kepler's  law,  the  time  of  rotation  of 
a  body  at  this  surface  will  be  such  that  by  no  pos- 
sibility could  it  be  exposed  to  the  action  of  such 
an  upheaval  for  much  more  than  two  one-lnm- 
dredths  as  long  as  Saturn,  a  time  so  greatly  shorter 
that  it  seems  absurd  to  compare  the  results.  More- 
over, the  diameter  of  the  Moon's  orbit  is  so  much 
less  than  that  of  the  orbit  of  Saturn's  eighth  Satel- 
lite, that  there  would  be  far  less  inequality  in  the 
counteracting  movements  at  M  and  M'.  Hence,  I 
cannot  think  the  present  separation  of  18^°  be- 
tween th§  plane  of  the  equator  and  the  orbit  of  our 
moon,  is  due  to  this  cause. 

But,  even  admitting  the  possibility  of  the 
present  difference  between  the  inclination  of  the 
Moon's  orbit  and  the  Earth  being  caused  by  such 
an  upheaval,  the  fact  remains,  as  already  shown, 
that  it  might  have  been  caused  otherwise.  It 
then  would  be  a  question  of  evidence,  did  this 
difference  occur  before  our  globe  had  ceased  to  be 
a  nebulous  mass  ?  for  when  it  had  become  solid, 


272  COSMOLOGY. 

the  Sun  had  shrunk  too  far  away  for  upheavals  on 
its  surface  to  produce  any  effect.  The  evidence  is 
clearly  negative,  for  the  records  of  life  show 
plainly  that,  in  the  earlier  Geologic  Epochs,  the 
axis  must  have  been  nearly  perpendicular.  The 
only  objection  to  this,  as  far  as  I  know,  is  the 
enormous  circumpolar  upheaval  needed,  but  this 
objection  applies  with  at  least  equal  force  to  a 
Solar  upheaval,  indeed,  the  latter  would  need  to 
be  the  greater,  and  it  is  no  more  easy  for  me  to 
think  of  an  equatorial  protuberance  (not  belt)  on 
the  Sun,  of  many  hundred  millions  of  cubic 
miles,  than  of  the  needed  polar  movement  upon 
the  earth. 

Both  are  inexplicable  at  present.  Upheavals 
have  occurred,  and  are  now  occurring,  in  Sun  and 
planet.  It  is  simply  a  question  as  to  the  degree 
of  a  movement,  of  which  we  know  neither  the 
cause  nor  the  limit. 

Hence,  we  are  led  to  identically  the  same  con- 
clusion as  that  arrived  at  in  the  previous  chapter, 
viz.  that  the  present  difference  between  the  incli- 
nation of  the  earth's  axis,  and  that  of  the  Moon's 
orbit,  is  not  in  any  material  degree  due  to  any 
movement  of  that  orbit.  And  that  consequently 
there  must  have  been  a  movement  of  the  earth 
itself,  changing  its  axial  inclination  from  about 
5°  9'  to  23£°,  and  that  this  occurred  since  the 
separation  of  the  Moon  from  the  earth,  and  be- 
tween that  great  event  and  the  beginning  of  his- 
torical records. 


NEBULAR    HYPOTHESIS.  273 

The  precise  Epoch  has  already  been  considered. 

The  inclination  of  the  Solar  axis  is  the  resi- 
duum or  resultant  of  all  these  movements,  or 
rather  of  their  reactions. 

These  principles  indicate  clearly  the  possibility 
of  a  System  presenting  a  far  greater  variety  of 
movements  and  inclinations  than  is  found  in  our 
own.  Some  planets  might  revolve  in  a  direction 
opposite  to  that  of  their  Satellites. 

Something  approaching  this  is  now  seen  in 
case  of  our  earth  and  her  moon.  The  former  re- 
volves from  due  West  to  due  East,  while  the 
other  moves  from  W.  18J°  S.,  to  E.  18£°  N". 

The  inclinations  of  the  axes  of  the  Satellites 
can  be  accounted  for  upon  the  same  principles. 
As  far  as  known  they  are  very  small,  as  was  to 
have  been  expected.  This  arises  not  so  much 
from  the  smallness  of  their  primaries  as  from  the 
shortness  of  their  orbital  radii,  causing  a  greater 
difference  between  their  times  of  orbital  revolu 
tion,  and  those  of  their  primaries,  hence  affording 
less  opportunity  for  upheavals  to  produce  their 
effect. 

While  the  nearness  of  the  Satellites  produces 
this  negative  result,  it  is  curious  to  note  that  the 
equality  of  lunar  orbital  and  axial  revolution 
flows  from  the  same  cause. 

This  equality  certainly  exists  in  case  of  our 
own  Satellite,  and  observation  seems  to  render  it 
highly  probable  in  case  of  all  the  others. 
12* 


274:  COSMOLOGY. 

This  we  shall  consider  in  another  chapter. 

It  remains  only  to  complement  this  discussion 
by  showing  that  an  upheaval  upon  the  surface  of 
the  Sun  at  as  late  a  period  as  the  appearance  of 
organic  life,  could  produce  no  sensible  eifect  upon 
the  position  of  the  earth,  or  any  other  planet. 
That  this  is  true,  is  evident,  because  the  earth  and 
Sun  had  then  shrunk  -to  their  present  dimen- 
sions, and  consequently  the  upheaved  mass  was  so 
much  more  distant  than  at  the  time  immediately 
following  the  segregation  of  the  earth  ;  and,  sec- 
ondly, a  mass  placed  even  at  the  pole  of  the  Sun 
would  be  separated  from  the  centre  by  so  small  an 
angle  as  practically  to  make  its  effect  the  same  as 
if  placed  there.  Hence,  no  upheaval  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  Sun  at  so  late  a  period,  could  produce 
any  effect  differing  materially  from  that  arising 
from  the  direct  action  of  that  body. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    ROTATION   OF  THE   MOON. 

THE  curious  coincidence  between  the  time  of 
lunar  axial,  and  orbital  revolution,  which  ex- 
tends to  some,  and  perhaps  all,  the  other  Satel- 
lites, is  explicable  as  the  result  of  the  nebulous 
condition  of  our  System,  and  the  nearness  of  these 
bodies  to  their  primaries.* 

The  Moon  was  once  a  gaseous  mass.  It  passed 
by  insensible  degrees  from  that  condition  to  a 
fluid,  and  then,  through  ever  increasing  degrees 
of  viscidity,  to  a  solid. 

In  its  earlier  stages  of  development  it  revolved 
on  its  axis  at  a  rate  which  was  a  function  of  its 
orbital  motion,  and  of  its  condensation.  As  the 
latter  was  very  great,  its  effect  could  not  have 
been  null,  therefore  the  axial  motion  generated  by 
the  two  could  not  have  produced  an  angular 
velocity  as  small  as  the  orbital ;  hence,  originally, 
the  Moon  revolved  on  its  axis  with  a  velocity 
greater  than  at  present. 

There  has,  then,  been  some  retarding  cause, 

*  The  once  liquid  condition  of  the  Moon  was  assumed, 
I  think  first  by  Newton. 


276  THE    ROTATION    OF    THE   MOON. 

for  no  change  occurs  in  matter  spontaneously.  It 
must  have  been  in  some  way  intimately  associated 
with  the  orbital  motion,  since  it  reduced  the  axial 
to  it,  and  then  ceased  to  operate,  or  at  least  to 
make  itself  manifest. 

The  Moon,  while  in  a  fluid  condition,  was  af- 
fected by  tides,  surpassing  those  now  on  the  earth, 
since  the  latter' s  mass  is  ninety  times  greater ;  and 
the  lunar  ocean's  depth  extended  to  its  centre. 
Partly  by  the  friction  of  the  lunar  wave,  and  infi- 
nitely more  from  its  viscidity,  an  ever-increasing 
resistance  to  the  Moon's  axial  motion  was  gene- 
rated. At  the  same  time  that  these  forces  so 
much  exceeded  &uy  present  tidal  influence  on  the 
earth,  the  smallness  of  the  Moon  rendered  it  less 
able  to  continue  the  contest,  her  momentum,  with 
the  same  velocity  as  the  earth,  being  ninety  times 
less,  and  ever  decreasing  as  its  motion  grew 
smaller. 

Moreover,  as  the  time  of  an  axial  revolution 
grew  less,  the  telluric  attraction  had  more  ample 
time  to  communicate  its  full  effect  to  the  lunar 
mass,  hence  the  lunar  wave  attained  its  maximum 
height,  and  its  full  retarding  power. 

There  was  thus  generated  a  force  ample  to  stop 
the  Moon's  axial  motion  in  a  brief  time,  as  Cos- 
mology counts  time. 

Evidently,  the  retardation  could  proceed  no 
farther  than  to  keep  the  summit  of  the  tidal  wave 
directly  under  the  earth,  as  viewed  from  the 


XKBULAR    HYPOTHESIS.  277 

moon,  since  in  that  position  there  was  no  tendency 
to  move,  and  hence,  no  resistance  either  from 
friction  or  viscidity. 

A  like  influence  was  exerted  on  the  earth  by 
the  moon.  Owing  to  the  former's  greater  mass, 
the  effect  was  relatively  small,  but  it  could  not 
have  been  null. 

The  Sun,  which  by  that  time  had  shrunk  to 
somewhere  near  its  present  dimensions,  also  tended 
to  produce  a  retardation  of  axial  motion,  but 
owing  to  its  greater  distance,  its  influence  was 
much  less  than  that  of  the  earth. 

The  present  prolongation  of  the  lunar  diame- 
ter in  the  direction  of  the  earth,  is  the  residuum 
of  that  ancient  tidal  wave,  or  rather  it  is  that  wave 
solidified,  a  belief  that  finds  confirmation  in  the 
general  direction  of  .the  ridges  which  mark  its 
surface.  An  inspection  of  a  lunar  map  shows 
hundreds  of  mountainous  ridges^  by  far  the  ma- 
jority of  which  run  north  and  south,  that  is, 
transversely,  or  in  the  resisting  line,  to  such  a  force 
as  we  have  been  considering.  The  circular  moun- 
tain ridges  seem  to  have  been  an  after  formation. 
Omitting  these  as  not  to  be  counted  either  way, 
it  will  be  found  on  a  careful  examination,  that 
where  there  is  one  ridge  running  east  and  west, 
there  are  one  hundred  running  north  and  south. 

The  rough,  volcanic  appearance  of  the  whole 
disk  is  exceedingly  suggestive  of  the  last  stages 
of  transition  from  a  liquid  to  a  solid  condition,  the 


278        THE  ROTATION  OF  THE  MOON. 

gradual  formation  of  a  somewhat  thin  crust,  the 
crumpling  and  solidification  of  the  strata  into  a 
tolerably  quiescent  state,  followed  by  ejections  of 
the  internal  lava,  or  the  sinking  of  large  tracts  as 
the  centre  cooled. 

At  the  present  time,  the  tidal  wave  is  retard- 
ing the  earth's  diurnal  motion,  and  it  has  been 
said  that  either  the  earth  is  revolving  more  slowly 
from  year  to  year,  or  else  that  the  moon  is  accele- 
rating its  velocity.  Both  suppositions  are  true, 
and  both  are  due  to  the  same  cause.  The  same 
influence  which  makes  the  tide  a  drag  upon,  the 
earth's  motion,  by  the  law  of  reaction,  necessarily 
causes  the  wave  to  pull  the  moon  forward  in  its 
orbit.  The  one  effect  cannot  exist  without  the 
other. 

A  natural  and  correct  inference  is  that,  in 
its  primal  state,  while  like  Jupiter  and  Saturn, 
in  a  yet  fluid  condition,  the  earth  revolved  on  its 
axis  more  rapidly  than  now,  perhaps  as  rapidly  as 
those  planets.  Similar  changes  are  now  going  on 
in  all  the  planets  with  satellites,  and  conse- 
quently their  length  of  day  is  increasing,  and  may 
eventually  become  equal  to  that  of  the  earth,  a 
conclusion  which  renders  more  certain  the  impos- 
sibility of  establishing  the  diurnal  equation  of 
those  planets. 

Another  and  curious  inference  is  this,  viz. 
the  radii  of  the  lunar  orbits  are  increasing.  For, 
each  planet  accelerates  the  orbital  movement  of  its 


NEBULAR    HYPOTHESIS.  279 

moons,  hence  increasing  the  centrifugal  force, 
and  of  course  pushing  them,  so  to  speak,  farther 
away. 

In  the  principles  which  have  been  discussed, 
I  think  we  have  reasons  why  the  immense  exte- 
rior planets  rotate  more  rapidly  than  the  smaller 
ami  interior  ones.  (1)  The  larger  interplanetary 
distances  gave  greater  "  falling  room,"  hence, 
greater  velocity  to  the  gathering  atoms,  and  there- 
fore more  motion  was  generated.  (2)  Their  Solar 
tidal  waves,  in  the  molten  masses,  owing  to  their 
immensely  greater  distance  from  the  centre  of  the 
System,  produced  less  effect,  while  their  lunar 
tidal  waves  also,  owing  to  the  relatively  less 
masses,  and  greater  distances  of  their  Satellites, 
had  less  influence,  while  (3)  their  own  larger 
masses  gave  them  greater  power  of  overcoming 
resistance. 

Mars  seems  to  disprove  this  explanation.  Not 
only  was  its  "falling  room"  greater  than  that  of 
the  atoms  which  formed  the  Earth,  thus  generating 
a  greater  axial  velocity,  but  it  had  no  satellite  to 
retard  it,  and  its  solar  tidal  wave  produced  but  a 
slight  effect.  Hence  its  residual  velocity  ought  to 
exceed  that  of  the  Earth.  But,  in  fact,  it  is  less. 
Since  it  revolves  on  its  axis  in  a  period  41'  19'' 
longer  than  one  of  our  days. 

The  Theory,  however,  is  sufficient  for  this  ap- 
parent anomaly.  We  may,  as  shown  on  page  253, 
conceive  of  a  Cosmic  ring  aggregated  into  two 


280        THE  ROTATION  OF  THE  MOON. 

spheroids  in  one  orbit  and  rotating  in  the  same 
direction.  Unless  they  were  exactly  180°  apart,  a 
condition  scarcely  possible,  they  would  by  mutual 
attraction  finally  come  into  collision.  This  would 
be  attended  by  a  loss  of  rotatory  motion  to  an  ex- 
tent depending  upon  their  relative  masses.  It'  one 
was  immensely  larger  than  the  other  the  resulting 
loss  would  be  but  small ;  if  there  was  some  approach 
to  equality,  the  loss  would  be  relatively  greater. 

Thus  it  is  easy  to  see  how  a  system  formed  from 
a  nebulous  mass,  might  contain  one  or  more  planets 
whose  axial  motion,  being  the  resultant  of  such  col- 
lisions, might  be  less  than  it  normally  should  be. 

CONCLUSION. 

From  a  careful  consideration  of  all  the  facts,  I 
think  we  may  justly  conclude,  indeed  I  may  say, 
are  forced  to  conclude,  that  if  a  nebulous  mass, 
such  as  we  have  supposed,  was  endowed  in  its 
atoms  with  the  power  of  mutual  gravitation,  and 
the  unstable  equilibrium  ensuing  disturbed  by 
some  exterior  force,  there  would  of  necessity  be 
generated,  in  due  time,  a  number  of  planets  of 
varying  sizes,  all  revolving  in  one  direction  about 
a  common  centre,  in  orbits  of  varying  eccentrici- 
ties and  inclinations.  That  each  of  these  bodies, 
and  the  central  body,  would  revolve  on  its  axis, 
normally,  in  the  same  direction.  That  the  axis  of 
each  would  be  more  or  less  inclined  at  any  angle 


NEBULAR    HYPOTHESIS.  281 

from  0°  to  180°,  and  that,  in  case  the  inclination 
was  more  than  90°,  the  diurnal  motion  would  be 
retrograde.  That  if  any  of  these  planets,  while 
in  the  nebulous  condition,  were  sufficiently  large, 
they  would  also  form  systems  revolving  about 
them,  in  orbits  of  greater  or  less  ellipticity,  and 
more  or  less  inclined  to  the  plane  of  the  primary's 
equator. 

Hence,  bearing  also  in  mind  the  evidence  fof 
the  Spectroscope,  it  seems  impossible  to  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  such  was  once  the  condition  of  our 
<>\\n  System,  and  that  its  present  arrangements 
are  the  legitimate  results  of  its  having  once  been 
a  nebulous  mass,  modified  and  wrought  upon  by  a 
force  of  upheaval  which  has  manifested  itself  from 
the  beginning  of  the  Solar  Universe. 

This  plastic  force  is  Heat,  itself  the  effect  of 
the  primal  force  which  drew  atom  to  atom. 

Here  Science,  and  even  Imagination,  must 
stop,  and,  unable  themselves  to  go  farther,  point 
as  guide-boards  to  an  infinite,  intelligent  Will,  the 
First  Cause,  the  Origin  of  all  force,  and  of  all 
motion.  Of  Him  it  was  written,  some  three 
thousand  years  ago,  "He  inaketh  his  ministers  a 
flame  of  fire,"  His  servants,  His  laborers  to  build 
up  a  Universe. 

Of  that  elemental  chaos,  while  yet  without 
form,  and  void  and  dark,  we  read,  "  The  Spirit 
of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters,"  the 


282        THE  ROTATION  OF  THE  MOON. 

only  term  which  the  limited  power  of  the  Hebrew 
could  apply  to  the  mobile  mass. 

Thus,  by  a  circuitous  route,  we  are  back  to 
that  living  miracle,  the  Mosaic  Account  of  Crea- 
tion. 

NOTE. — Substantially  the  same  explanation  of  the  curi- 
ous coincidence  between  the  time  of  lunar  axial  and  orbital 
revolution  is  to  be  found  on  pages  416  and  417  of  Laplace's 
Systeine  du  Monde,  5th  edition. 

If  any  reader  cares  to  look  into  the  matter,  I  think  he  will 
find  enough  difference  to  convince  him  that  my  article  was 
written  without  any  knowledge  of  the  other.  In  fact  it  had 
been  previously  stereotyped. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOME   THOUGHTS    EN    REFERENCE   TO   THE   ASTEROIDS 
AND   SATURN'S    RINGS. 

rpHREE  theories  have  long  been  before  the 
-L  world  to  account  for  this  curious  group. 
Each  assumes  that  they  are  fragments  of  a  larger 
planet,  and  each  differs  from  the  others  in  the 
cause  assigned  for  such  a  catastrophe.  One  attri- 
butes the  disruption  to  centrifugal  force,  another, 
to  the  explosion  of  confined  gases,  and  yet  another, 
to  collision  with  some  foreign  body. 

The  first  supposition  implies  that  gravitation 
can  generate  a  force  sufficient,  not  only  to  over- 
come itself,  and  the  cohesion  of  the  mass,  but  to 
fling  the  fragments  millions  of  miles  apart. 

The  second  also  implies  that  a  centripetal 
force  can  generate  heat  enough  to  overcome  the 
generating  force  and  the  cohesion  of  the  mass, 
and  fling  the  fragments  so  far  away. 

Either  is  untenable,  since  no  force  can  gene- 
rate a  force  greater  than  itself. 

There  remains  then,  the  third  supposition,  viz. 
a  collision  with  some  foreign  body. 

This  is  purely  conjectural,  a  "  deus  ex  machina  " 
to  help  out  of  a  difficulty.  Nor  does  it  aid  much, 


284:  COSMOLOGY. 

for  if  a  planet  had  been  struck  by  some  solid  body 
with  force  enough  to  scatter  the  fragments  over  a 
zone  240,000,000  miles  in  width,  the  blow  would 
have  converted  both  into  vapor,  and  the  two,  held 
in  the  bonds  of  mutual  attraction,  would  have 
formed  again  a  nebula.  If  the  blow  had  been 
struck  in  front,  so  much  of  the  planet's  velocity 
would  have  been  destroyed  that,  if  it  escaped  fall- 
ing into  the  Sun,  it  would  have  revolved  in  an 
orbit  of  amazing  eccentricity,  while  in  fact  the 
average  eccentricity  of  the  group  is  less  than  that  of 
Mercury.  If  struck  in  the  rear,  its  velocity  would 
have  been  so  accelerated  as  to  send  it  off'  into 
space,  in  a  cometal  orbit.  In  whatever  way  we 
suppose  the  blow  struck,  the  effects  are  wanting. 

Another  theory  of  more  recent  origin  assumes 
that  this  group  is  composed  of  bodies  which  came 
into  the  solar  system  from  external  space,  pre- 
cisely as  do  meteors  at  the  present  day. 

To  this  several  objections  present  themselves 
which  seem  fatal. 

First,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  chances,  it 
is  inconceivable  that  150  bodies  (or  whatever  may 
be  the  number)  -should  have  flown  nearly  in  one 
plane  into  our  system,  and  that  of  all  the  myriad  of 
possible  positions  and  directions  they  should  have 
taken  that  in  close  harmony  with  the  Nebular 
Hypothesis.  Second,  if  these  bodies,  or  any  (Tne 
of  them,  came  from  somewhere  outside  their  pres- 
ent orbits,  they  must  in  that  earlier  epoch  have 


THE   ASTEROIDS.  285 

been  within  the  sphere  of  the  Sun's  dominance, 
or  beyond  it.  In  the  former  case,  they  would  to- 
day continue  to  revolve  in  an  orbit  passing  through 
that  "somewhere,"  andlience  possessing  an  eccen- 
tricity inmu'iiM'ly  greater  than  they  now  do,  unless 
some  other  attraction  has  interfered  and  reduced 
the  ellipticity  to  its  present  dimensions. 

This  interference  could  come  only  from  the 

rior  planets,  or  from  some  contemporaneous 
upheavals  in  the  helioid,  such  as  have  been  under 
consideration. 

As  to  the  effect  of  a  planet,  it  is  utterly  incon- 
ceivable that  even  Jupiter,  the  largest,  could  have 
so  equally  affected  a  group  125,000,000  miles  wide, 
containing  so  large  a  number  of  bodies  differing  all 
possible  degrees  in  their  angular  position,  that  no 
one  of  their  orbits  is  much  more  eccentric  than  is 
Mercury's,  while  most  of  them  are  less  so.  As  to 
the  effect  of  an  upheaval,  the  same  objections  apply. 

If,  however,  the  Asteroids  came  from  the 
depths  of  space  beyond  the  dominance  of  the 
sun's  attractive  power,  the  difficulties  of  such  a 
theory  become,  if  possible,  even  greater.  For  not 
only  would  there  be  needed  an  impelling  force  to 
push  them  within  the  power  of  the  Sun,  but  any 
such  impulse  would  send  them  towards  our  system 
with  a  velocity  and  consequent  momentum  which 
would  carry  them  off  again  into  space  in  a  para- 
bolic orbit,  never  to  return. 

The  facts,  then,  of  the  solar  system,  are  such 


286  COSMOLOGY. 

that  this  theory  cannot  be  true.  What  remains  ? 
The  ordinary  laws  and  movements.  These,  ap- 
plied in  accordance  with  the  idea  that  the  whole 
Cosmos  was  generated  fr<*n  a  nebulous  mass,  will, 
I  think,  give  a  not  unreasonable  explanation  of  the 
peculiarities  of  this  group.  First,  then,  as  far  as 
yet  known  there  is  no  reason  in  the  nature  of 
things  why,  as  the  equatorial  portions  of  the 
central  nebula  approached  that  condition  of  equi- 
librium in  which  the  centrifugal  force  was  equal 
to  the  centripetal,  and  a  belt  of  matter  was  about 
to  be  segregated,  this  effect  should  take  place  in  a 
belt  of  100,000,000  miles  wide,  rather  10,000,000 
or  1,000,000,  unless  it  was  determined  by  the 
greater  or  less  viscidity  (so  to  speak)  of  the  central 
mass.  For,  although  the  cosmic  forces  must  be 
considered  as  in  themselves  uniform,  yet,  accord- 
ing to  all  experience  and  observation,  their  mani- 
festations vary  in  degree,  as  sometimes  the  surface 
of  the  Sun  seems  almost  perfectly  quiet,  while  at 
others  it  is  upheaved  in  a  commotion  that  tran- 
scends the  flight  of  imagination.  Less  viscidity 
then,  aided,  perhaps,  by  the  action  of  the  greater 
planets,  may,  without  any  forcing  of  theory,  have 
caused  the  avulsion  of  narrow  belts,  say  1,000,000 
miles  in  width,  each  finally  gathering  itself  into  a 
planetary  spheroid.  This  condition  may  have 
continued  until  belt  after  belt  was  left  behind  in*  a 
zone  of  an  average  width  of  125,000,000  miles. 
There  may  have  been  as  many  rings  as  asteroids, 


SATURN'S  RINGS.  287 

but  I  think  it  much  more  probable  that  two  or 
more  were  formed  from  one  ring.  This  would 
account  for  the  almost  equal  diameters  of  the 
orbits  of  some  of  these  bodies.  The  mode  in 
which  this  might  be  brought  about,  has  already 
been  pointed  out. 

Upheavals  upon  the  surface  of  the  central 
mass,  similar  to  those  previously  discussed,  and 
which  would  be  unusually  frequent  in  such  a  time 
of  increased  activity  as  then  existed,  would  pro- 
duce the  variety  and  extent  of  orbital  inclination 
and  eccentricities  which  those  little  planets  pre- 
sent. And  this  the  more,  since  the  small  mass  of 
an  asteroid  would  cause  the  upheavals  to  produce 
the  larger  effect.  Hence  we  should  expect  the 
extremest  orbital  eccentricity  and  inclination 
found  in  the  System.  The  extreme  obliquity  of 
some  of  these  orbits  appears  to  be  a  crucial  fact, 
demonstrating  the  influence  of  some  power  not 
exerted  in  the  plane  of  the  larger  planets. 

Hence  I  conclude  that  this  curious  group  is  no 
anomaly,  but  that  it  is  a  manifestation  of  the 
working  of  principles  which  developed  our  system, 
and  the  result  of  forces  still  active. 

AS  TO  THE  PLANET  SATURN. 

Eight  belts  have  been  thrown  off,  and  have 
formed  themselves  into  Satellites,  while*  others  are 
packed  together  in  a  group  of  rings  which  yet  re- 
tain their  original  form. 


288  COSMOLOGY. 

In  regard  to  these,  an  interesting  question  has 
arisen  as  to  the  Cause  of  their  retaining  their  form 
and  position. 

From  reason  and  analogy  it  seems  that  they 
ought,  before  this,  to  have  condensed  into  moons. 
It  has  been  shown  mathematically  that  they  can- 
not possibly  be  solid  masses.  The  most  generally 
received  opinion  appears  to  be  that  they  are  belts 
of  small  moons,  infinite  in  number.  But  if  BO, 
they  must  exert  an  attraction  upon  each  other 
that. would  result  injtheir  aggregation  into  one  or 
more  Spheroids'.  For  it  is  impossible  to  conceive 
of  such  an  infinite  number  of  bodies  revolving  in 
nearly  parallel  orbits  without  condensation  and 
final  solidification,  unless  some  counteracting  force 
prevent.  This  force,  I  take  it,  is  found  in  the 
intense  heat  of  the  primary  which  keeps  up  the 
vaporous  condition,  and  will  permit  no  condensa- 
tion until  Saturn  itself  shall  have  cooled  to  a 
much  lower  temperature. 

The  fact  that  the  moons  are  all  exterior  to  the 
belts,  the  nearest  being  37,500  miles  farther  from 
the  surface  of  the  planet  than  the  outer  edge  of 
the  most  distant  ring,  favors  this  view,  since,  by 
the  laws  of  radiant  heat,  they  (the  moons)  would 
be  far  less  influenced  by  the  temperature  of  the 
primary  body.  Moreover,  the  greater  transpa- 
rency of  the  inmost  (or  "  dark  ")  ring,  and  its 
small  power  of  reflecting  light,  would  be  the 
legitimate  consequences  of  its  greater  proximity 


SATURN'S  RINGS.  289 

to  the  planet  whose  heat  caused  it  to  assume  a 
condition  analogous  to  superheated  steam,  but 
was  not  sufficient  to  make  it  incandescent. 

We  may  obtain  some  idea  of  the  temperature, 
and  consequent  condition  of  the  rings,  by  changing 
the- scale  and  comparing  the  planet  to  melted  iron, 
although  its  very  small  specific  gravity  seems  to 
indicate  a  much  higher  degree  of  heat.  Suppose, 
then,  the  planet  to  be  a  sphere  of  molten  iron 
100  feet  in  diameter.  One  who  has  stood  near 
the  inetal  flowing  from  the  vent  of  a  large  fur- 
nace for  some  heavy  casting,  can,  perhaps,  form 
an  approximate  idea  of  the  intolerable  heat  of  such 
a  mass. 

Twelve  feet  from  its  surface  would  denote  the 
interval  to  the  inner  or  dark  ring.  At  this  dis- 
tance iron  would  soon  become  white  hot,  and  the 
softer  metals  melt  and  some  be  vaporized ;  twenty- 
five  feet  denotes  the  distance  to  the  second  ring, 
and  sixty-five  feet,  to  the  outside  of  the  exterior 
ring.  Even  here  wood  would  be  ignited,  and 
many  substances  vaporized,  indicating  a  tempera- 
ture incomparably  greater  than  that  which  forms 
our  clouds. 

•  The  arrangement  into  parallel  rings  follows 
necessarily  from  such  a  formation,  and  from  the 
varying  velocities   of  different   portions   of   the 
rings,  as  well  as  from  differences  of  levity  and  of 
temperature  needed  to  vaporize  their  materials. 
One  cannot  compare  the  densities  of  the  planets 
13 


290  COSMOLOGY. 

without  being  impressed  by  the  inequalities,  and 
the  apparent  absence  of  any  law. 

It  may  be  assumed  that  the  density  of  a  planet 
is  in  some  degree  an  indication  of  its  temperature. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  that  a  large  planet 
would  require  a  much  longer  time  to  cool  to  a 
solid  than  a  small  one,  and  that  quite  possibly  the 
rate  of  cooling  was  slower  than  the  rate  of  planet 
segregation,  and  that  a  body  like  Neptune,  some 
seventeen  times  more  massive  than  our  earth, 
might,  even  at  this  almost  infinite  distance  from 
the  time  of  its  formation,  retain  a  sufficient  aliitunt 
of  its  primeval  heat  to  render  it  one-sixth  as  neavy 
as  our  earth,  while  Uranus,  which  is  only  thirteen 
times  more  massive,  should  have  attained  a  density 
somewhat  greater,  although  it  does  seem  somewhat 
hard  to  believe  that  these  should  possess  so  much 
more  levity  than  our  young  world. 

Saturn  being  ninety  times  larger  in  mass,  it 
seems  more  reasonable  that  we  should  find  there  a 
still  higher  remaining  temperature,  and  a  still 
smaller  specific  gravity. 

Jupiter,  formed  so  long  after  Saturn,  and 
weighing  three  hundred  times  as  much  as  our 
world,  is  found  to  have  nearly  double  the  specific 
gravity  of  the  former,  a  fact  which  indicates  a 
lower  temperature. 

Passing  to  the  planets  within  the  orbit  of 
Jupiter,  the  increase  of  density  is  great,  but  per- 
haps no  more  than  is  due  to  their  smaller  mass, 


SATURN'S  KINGS.  291 

and  consequent  more  rapid  loss  of  heat ;  nor  is  the 
difference  of  density  among  them  remarkable, 
being  much  less  than  is  found  among  the  solid 
constituents  of  our  earth. 

The  most  marked  discrepancy,  all  things  con- 
sidered, is  that  existing  between  the  density  (or 
temperature)  of  Saturn  and  Jupiter.  The  former 
ought,  by  superior  age,  and  inferior  mass,  to  be 
cooler,  and  consequently  more  dense  than  the 
latter.  But  as  this  is  noj;  the  case,  there  must, 
from  some  cause,  have  been  less  loss  of  heat  by 
radi^^n.  Did  the  smaller  loss  come  from  less 
radiating  power?  This  implies  a  considerable 
ilitiuruiifu  in  the  constitution  of  the  two  planets, 
greater  than  seerns  reasonable,  if  they  once  formed 
portions  of  the  same  nebulous  mass,  existing  as 
it  must  have  done,  in  a  state  of  violent  agita- 
tion. 

I  think  we  find  one  true  cause  of  Saturn's 
greater  heat  in  the  peculiar  arrangement  of  its 
own  system.  The  rings  radiate  and  reflect  back 
upon  it  much  of  the  radiant  lieat  of  the  planet. 
All  know  the  retaining  effect  of  a  light  cloud 
in  our  earth's  atmosphere,  but  here  is  a  belt 
having  a  radiating  surface  (both  sides)  of  about 
29,000,000,000  square  miles,  a  surface,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  sufficiently  large  to  very  materially  retard 
the  rate  of  the  planet's  cooling,  although  their 
form  is  unfavorable  to  producing  the  maximum 
effect. 


292  COSMOLOGY* 

It  seems  that  the  belts  of  Saturn  are  expanding 
at  the  rate  of  twenty-nine  or  thirty  miles  a  year. 
This  movement  has  not  continued  in  one  direction 
very  long,  or  else  the  rings  would  have  been 
destroyed.  Most  probably  it  is  only  one  of  those 
cloud-like  movements,  sometimes  expanding,  and 
at  others  contracting,  which  would  naturally  be 
expected  in  such  bodies  as  I  have  supposed  these 
to  be. 

The  two  outer  planets,  although  denser  than 
Saturn,  as  by  their  superior  age  and  less  size  they 
ought  to  be,  are  yet  very  t'onsidiTubly  K-^Wense 
than  Jupiter,  a  result  that  appears  unaccountable, 
save  for  the  same  cause  that  seems  to  have  affected 
Saturn,  viz.  a  system  of  rings. 

From  their  immense  distance,  it  is  probable 
that  these  will  never  be  seen,  but  of  their  existence 
I  have  little  doubt. 


.       Or  THE     * 


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